Stonehenge’s Altar Stone came all the way from Scotland, new research shows

The central stone of the famous British monument came from 750km (465 miles) away in Scotland, and not Wales as previously thought.

At the centre of Stonehenge lies the Altar Stone, a hefty slab of sandstone whose origin and purpose have been among the famed megalithic monument’s enduring mysteries for nearly 5,000 years.

Now a new study, published in the journal Nature, has revealed that the rectangular colossus was transported from northeast Scotland by Stonehenge’s creators to Salisbury Plain in southern England, some 750km (465 miles) away.

The stone’s geochemical fingerprint is a perfect match for bedrock found in Scotland, researchers said on Wednesday, solving one mystery but raising another: how did its prehistoric builders move the huge slab – weighing an estimated six tonnes – so far?

More recently, scientists have determined that the site’s upright sandstones came from relatively nearby Marlborough, while the bluestones arrayed near its centre came from Wales.

But the origin of the Altar Stone, a unique slab laying on its side at the heart of the circle, remained elusive.