Stonehenge Altar Stone May Have Been Carried from Scotland by Glaciers, New Research Shows

Researchers from Sheffield Hallen University and Curtin University used numerical modelling to test whether the 6‑tonne Altar Stone, the largest of Stonehenge’s bluestones, could have travelled from the Orcadian Basin in north‑east Scotland by ice during the last Ice Age. The model shows that glacial ice could have moved the sandstone monolith as far as Dogger Bank, a former high‑ground area of the Doggerland land bridge off England’s east coast.

The study concludes that while glaciers may have carried the stone part‑way, they did not reach southern England, so prehistoric peoples likely completed the transport using over‑land, river or coastal methods. The findings add a new dimension to the debate over how the monument’s distant stones were sourced and moved.