How Scottish stone at Stonehenge may have been 'diplomatic gift' to 'boost sacredness' of monument

A Scottish stone found at Stonehenge may have been a “diplomatic gift” that boosted the “sacredness” of the monument, according to a leading expert of the Neolithic period.

It comes after researchers from several countries found the six-tonne Altar Stone at Stonehenge came from the Orcadian Basin - and not Wales, as previously thought - and was moved some 500 miles south around 2,600BC, most likely by boat.

Dr Alison Sheridan, former principal curator of prehistory at National Museum of Scotland, said the findings reinforced understanding that Neolithic communities of the north were sophisticated, travelled, connected and “active participants in social affairs" across Britain.

Hundreds of years before the Altar Stone is said to have arrived at Stonehenge, Neolithic people travelled from Orkney to visit Newgrange passage tomb in Ireland, where inspiration and ideas were drawn.

Finds of jewellery, pottery and flint have also highlighted long-distance connections with the Stonehenge area and Orkney, Dr Sheridan added.

Dr Alison Sheridan, former principal curator of prehistory at National Museum of Scotland. | Contributed

The Altar Stone sits near the centre of Stonehenge surrounded by the inner horseshoe of giant sarsen stones, some which stand 7m high, and smaller bluestones.

Dr Sheridan said: “Given that people would have been coming from far and wide to see the magnificent new monument, then it's quite possible that folks visited from Orkney. From the Stonehenge builders' point of view, they already had exotic stones - the bluestones - which probably got rearranged when the sarsens went up.

“The exotic nature of the stones gave them cachet and symbolic significance. So, acquiring a stone from far, far away would have made sense in terms of boosting the sacredness and power of Stonehenge as a monument. It could have been a 'diplomatic gift' from Orkney.”

On the significance of it coming from Scotland, Dr Sheridan added: “Its exotic nature - the fact that it had travelled so far, from a place that may still have been talked about by people in the south - will have made it valued.

“Folks may have attributed magical powers to it, for all we know.”

Dr Sheridan said research on the stone raised further questions, particularly surrounding the date it was placed at Stonehenge and what was happening in the changing society of Neolithic Orkney at the time. Presuming the altar stone was placed at Stonehenge after the giant sarsen stones were erected, it could have been added to the monument anytime after 2600BC to 2500BC, she added.

The Ring of Brodgar in Orkney was built around the same time the Altar Stone was placed at Stonehenge. PIC: Getty. | AFP via Getty Images

This is around the time Ring of Brodgar in Orkney is thought to have been built.

Dr Sheridan said: “I feel that the massive Ring of Brodgar stone circle and henge may well have been inspired by seeing the much larger monument at Avebury, near Stonehenge.

“Now, the $64,000 question is when the Ring of Brodgar was constructed. The big stone circle and henge at Avebury could have been built around 2500 BC, but the dating of the construction of the Ring of Brodgar is less secure.

“ It could have been around then - and we know, from work undertaken for Prof Colin Richards at UHI Orkney, that the Ring of Brodgar stones were transported over fairly long distances within Orkney. So the Orcadians have 'form' when it comes to moving big stones. “

PhD student Anthony Clarke (right) and Professor Chris Kirkland (left) of Curtin University in Western Australia who led research into the Altar Stone alongwith colleagues from London, Wales, Italy and Canada. PIC: Curtin University. | Curtin University

Dr Sheridan added: “The only thing is that, by 2600 BC, the heyday of Late Neolithic, highly socially-differentiated Orkney society was effectively over.”

Many of the buildings at Ness of Brodgar - a giant, sophisticated complex of buildings where an abundance of artwork, pottery and tools have been found - were ruined by this time, she said.

Dr Sheridan stressed that understanding of the nature of society in Orkney around this time left an “awful lot to be desired” - but evidence indicated that people were still working and meeting in big groups around the time the Altar Stone is believed to have been moved.

She added: “If the Ring of Brodgar was erected as late as c 2500 BC, though, that indicates that folks were still undertaking major monument construction, pulling together and operating in supra-local groups.

“The huge feast of [mainly] beef that took place in the ruins of a big building at the Ness of Brodgar around 2400 BC shows that lots of people did get together. An estimated 400 cattle were eaten then which must have been a large proportion of the cattle on the islands then.”

She added: “So, overall, the Altar Stone is a wonderful new jigsaw piece, but the overall jigsaw still has many holes in it.”

While the study found the Altar Stone was probably moved by boat, others have suggested the stone could have been transported by land in a journey designed to attract much attention from Neolithic communities along the way.

On transportation of the stone, Dr Sheridan said the idea of Neolithic people making long sea journeys was no surprise. The Orkney Vole species arrived with humans, either deliberately or as unintended stowaways on a boat, around the Neolithic period when the first farmers settled on Orkney.

Dr Sheridan said: “People from Orkney must also have travelled to the Continental mainland around that time too, since the Orkney Vole's DNA tells us that it can only have arrived then by boat from the Continent.”

She said, theoretically, a very large hide-covered boat “might have been able to cope” with the transportation of the six-tonne stone.

Dr Sheridan added: “One method used elsewhere to transport large stones has been attached to the underside of a raft-like structure. At the end of the day, folks were able to transport multi-tonne stones in Egypt by water during the third millennium BC, so we can assume that they had the capability to do it. 

“The idea of transporting by land ties in with ethnographic examples of where the involvement of large numbers of a community in a stone-moving operation helps to affirm social relations.

“However, transportation by land over 750km or so is several orders of magnitude greater than these ethnographic examples. My hunch is that it was probably a combination of movement by sea [and river] and overland.

“In the first instance, assuming that the stone was from Orkney, it can only have been transported by sea, after all. Bottom line is that we shall never know for sure - but that won't stop the world and its dog speculating wildly.”