Curtin scientists freeze out ice-age delivery theory for Stonehenge stones

New Curtin University research has delivered the strongest scientific evidence yet that people – not glaciers – transported Stonehenge’s famous bluestones to the ancient site.
The study challenges one of archaeology’s most enduring debates about how the Altar Stone and other rocks got to their current position and strengthens the case for deliberate human transport.
Using advanced mineral “fingerprinting” techniques, Curtin scientists examined microscopic grains preserved in rivers close to the historic monument around Salisbury Plain, in southern England.
The mineral grains act as geological time capsules, revealing how sediments travelled across Britain over millions of years.
Using world-leading equipment at Curtin’s John de Laeter Centre, the research team analysed more than 500 zircon crystals, one of the most durable minerals on Earth.
Lead author Dr Anthony Clarke from the Timescales of Minerals Systems Group within Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said the results showed no evidence that glaciers ever reached the Stonehenge site.
“If glaciers had carried rocks all the way from Scotland or Wales to Stonehenge, they would have left a clear mineral signature on the Salisbury Plain,” Dr Clarke said.
“Those rocks would have eroded over time, releasing tiny grains that we could date to understand their ages and where they came from.
“We looked at the river sands near Stonehenge for some of those grains the glaciers might have carried and we did not find any. That makes the alternative explanation - that humans moved the stones - far more plausible.”
Dr Clarke said how humans may have moved the stones remained a mystery.
“Some people say the stones might have been sailed down from Scotland or Wales, or they might have been transported over land using rolling logs, but really we might never know,” Dr Clarke said.
“But what we do know is ice almost certainly didn’t move the stones.”
Study co-author Professor Chris Kirkland, also from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group at Curtin, said the findings highlight the power of modern geochemical tools to resolve long-standing historical questions.
“Stonehenge continues to surprise us,” Professor Kirkland said.
“By analysing minerals smaller than a grain of sand, we have been able to test theories that have persisted for more than a century.
“There are so many questions that can be asked about this iconic monument — for example, why was Stonehenge built in the first place?
“It was probably used for a wide variety of different purposes, like a calendar, an ancient temple, a feasting site.
“So asking and then answering these sorts of questions requires different sorts of data sets and and this study adds an important piece to that bigger picture.”
The findings follow another major Curtin-led discovery in 2024, identifying a Scottish origin for the central six-tonne ‘Altar Stone’ rock at the heart of Stonehenge, further reinforcing the view Neolithic builders sourced and transported the iconic stones deliberately and over vast distances.
The paper ‘Detrital zircon-apatite fingerprinting challenges glacial transport of Stonehenge’s
megaliths’ has been published in journal Communications Earth and Environment.