One Mystery of Stonehenge's Origins Has Finally Been Solved (scientificamerican.com) 25
For more than four centuries, archaeologists and geologists have sought to determine the geographical origins of the stones used to build Stonehenge thousands of years ago. Pinning down the source of the large blocks known as sarsens that form the bulk of the monument has proved especially elusive. From a report: Now researchers have resolved the mystery: 50 of the 52 extant sarsens at Stonehenge came from the West Woods site in the English county of Wiltshire, located 25 kilometers to the north of Stonehenge. The findings were published on Wednesday in Science Advances. Geologists can often use macroscopic and microscopic features of rocks to match them to the outcropping from which they were taken. Such techniques have allowed researchers to determine that many of Stonehenge's smaller "bluestones" were brought from southwestern Wales. But "the trouble with sarsen stone is that it's all the same," says study co-author Katy Whitaker, a graduate student at the University of Reading in England and an assistant listing adviser at Historic England. "When you look at it under the microscope, you see quartz sand grains stuck together with more quartz."
So the team turned to x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, a nondestructive technique that bombards a sample with x-rays and analyzes the wavelengths of light that sample emits in response, which can show its chemical makeup. The technique revealed the presence of trace elements, or those found in minute quantities, on the surface of Stonehenge's sarsens. Almost all of those stones shared a remarkably similar chemical composition, indicating that they originated together. The data were insufficient to pinpoint where that source was, however. The team's breakthrough came unexpectedly in 2018, when a sample core that had been drilled from one of Stonehenge's sarsens during a 1958 restoration project was returned to England after it spent 60 years in a private collection. The researchers were granted permission to destroy part of the core for a more detailed analysis. "We quietly jumped up and down with excitement," says lead author David Nash, a physical geographer at the University of Brighton in England. Using two types of mass spectrometry, the team determined the levels of 22 trace elements in the core and compared them with the levels in sarsen samples from 20 different sites dotting southern England. The chemical signature of the core exactly matched that of one of the sites -- West Woods, which encompasses about six square kilometers.
So the team turned to x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, a nondestructive technique that bombards a sample with x-rays and analyzes the wavelengths of light that sample emits in response, which can show its chemical makeup. The technique revealed the presence of trace elements, or those found in minute quantities, on the surface of Stonehenge's sarsens. Almost all of those stones shared a remarkably similar chemical composition, indicating that they originated together. The data were insufficient to pinpoint where that source was, however. The team's breakthrough came unexpectedly in 2018, when a sample core that had been drilled from one of Stonehenge's sarsens during a 1958 restoration project was returned to England after it spent 60 years in a private collection. The researchers were granted permission to destroy part of the core for a more detailed analysis. "We quietly jumped up and down with excitement," says lead author David Nash, a physical geographer at the University of Brighton in England. Using two types of mass spectrometry, the team determined the levels of 22 trace elements in the core and compared them with the levels in sarsen samples from 20 different sites dotting southern England. The chemical signature of the core exactly matched that of one of the sites -- West Woods, which encompasses about six square kilometers.
Next (Score:4, Funny)
Scientists will figure out the mystery of posting the same story over and over on /.
Re: (Score:2)
Given the frequency of such, it does not seem a likely development in near future, though there is hope for 2029.
Re: (Score:2)
Given the frequency of such, it does not seem a likely development in near future, though there is hope for 2029.
Given the speed of updates to base code, I'd guess more likely 2038...
Re: (Score:3)
Given the speed of updates to base code, I'd guess more likely 2038...
Just in time for the Year 2038 bug to bring the site down...
Dupe (Score:2)
https://science.slashdot.org/story/20/07/30/0141218/scientists-solve-mystery-of-the-origin-of-stonehenge-megaliths [slashdot.org]
Re:Dupe (Score:5, Funny)
There's an easier way (Score:2)
Just build a time machine, then go back and watch them build it.
Oh, and be sure not to get caught and used as a sacrifice.
Re: (Score:2)
OK, as long as you have a couple of centuries to hang around (that's how long it took.)
Re: (Score:1)
In ancient times... (Score:1)
Re: In ancient times... (Score:1)
Except it wasn't hundreds and the druids never used Stonehenge.
Re: In ancient times... (Score:1)
Oh, and the druids weren't a race and we know who they were and where they came from.
Re: (Score:2)
"The druids lived here once they said. Forgotten is the race that no-one knows.
Rum de rum 'rud a derimo"
Re: (Score:3)
Except it wasn't hundreds and the druids never used Stonehenge.
You fail. Miserably. [youtube.com]
Re: In ancient times... (Score:2)
It was hundreds. The druids thrived from about before the 3rd c. BCE until the 2nd c. CE. Writing was introduced to England around the 1st c. CE. So druids were around a couple hundred years before history begins in England. Which, notably is where the quote was spoken.
Re: In ancient times... (Score:2)
Also, neo-pagan Druids have used Stonehenge since the 18th century.
Re: (Score:1)
Whoosh! (Score:2)
Judging by the responses, you'll have to turn the humourometer up to 11 I'm afraid.
I haven't visited Stonehenge in years* but I'm told the quotation is one of those written on the walls of the Visitor Centre.
* Now you can't get close to the stones, for cheapskates like me you get almost as good a view from the A303 (though there's talk of that going underground soon if they can dig a tunnel without major archaeological damage).
Not much of a mystery (Score:2)
A mystery is "something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain".
Not everything we don't know constitutes a "mystery". Some things we are simply ignorant of because we haven't stumbled onto the bit of data needed to illuminate.