Uploaded October 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A startling new study provides evidence that the Altar Stone at Stonehenge, thought to have originated in Wales, actually came from much further afield. In this video I discuss this latest find in the context of everything we already know about Stonehenge including the various phases of the monument and the other Neolithic and Bronze Age structures that make up the local landscape.
#ancienthistory #bronzeage #stonehenge
✨ IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 Introduction
01:19 Stonehenge’s Mesolithic Past
02:49 Stonehenge Phase One
03:44 Stonehenge Phase Two
04:47 Stonehenge Phase Three
06:07 Stonehenge Phase Four
06:24 Stonehenge Phase Five
06:35 Origins of the Stones
09:16 Purpose of the Monument
13:39 A Ritual Landscape
✨ JOIN MY CHANNEL
youtube.com/channel/UC0Hs5t0U6Uf993Tba22YmKA/join
✨ SUPPORT VIA PATREON
patreon.com/MegalithHunter
✨ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIALS
Instagram & Facebook: @MegalithHunter
Twitter: @Megalith_Hunter
✨ REFERENCES
Bevins, R. E. et al. The Stonehenge Altar Stone was probably not sourced from the Old Red Sandstone of the Anglo-Welsh Basin: time to broaden our geographic and stratigraphic horizons? J. Archaeolog. Sci. Rep. 51, 104215 (2023).
Darvill, T. (2022). Keeping time at Stonehenge. Antiquity, 96(386), pp.319-335.
Gaffney, V.L., Baldwin, E., Bates, M., Bates, C.R., Gaffney, C.F., Hamilton, D., Kinnaird, T., Neubauer, W., Yorston, R., Allaby, R. and Chapman, H., 2020. A massive, Late Neolithic pit structure associated with Durrington Walls Henge.
Magli, G. and Belmonte, J.A. (2022). Archaeoastronomy and the alleged Stonehenge calendar. arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.07981.
Pearson, M.P., Pollard, J., Richards, C., Thomas, J., Tilley, C. and Welham, K. (2020). Stonehenge for the ancestors: Part 1. Landscape and monuments. Sidestone Press, Leiden.
Pearson, M.P. (2013). Researching Stonehenge: Theories Past and Present. AI, Vol. 16(1):72-83. DOI: 10.5334/ai.1601
✨ PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS
Google Earth
Location of Stonehenge and postholes
CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Durrington Walls, credit: Ethan Doyle White
CC BY 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Summary of calendar numerology at Stonehenge, credit: Darvill, T., as shown in the paper above.
CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Plan of Stonehenge, credit: Drawn by Adamsan from Cleal, Walker, & Montague, Stonehenge in its Landscape.
Stonehenge at sunset, credit: Jeffrey Pfau
CC BY 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Drawing of the Stonehenge landscape, credit: Dunn, P., as it appears in Pearson, M.P., Researching Stonehenge: Theories Past and Present as referenced above.
Map of Stonehenge landscape highlighting the Greater Cursus and Durrington Walls, credit: Gaffney, V. L., et al., in the paper referenced above.
Drawings of the Neolithic pits discovered in the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes project credit: Gaffney, V. L., et al., in the paper referenced above.
CC BY-SA 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Thumbnail: Altar Stone at Stonehenge, credit: Pam Brophy
Standing and recumbent stones at Waun Mawn, credit: Hansjoerg Lipp
CC BY 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Stonehenge, credit: garethwiscombe
Public domain
Woodhenge
A startling new study provides evidence that the Altar Stone at Stonehenge, thought to have originated in Wales, actually came from much further afield. In this video I discuss this latest find in the context of everything we already know about Stonehenge including the various phases of the monument and the other Neolithic and Bronze Age structures that make up the local landscape.
#ancienthistory #bronzeage #stonehenge
✨ IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 Introduction
01:19 Stonehenge’s Mesolithic Past
02:49 Stonehenge Phase One
03:44 Stonehenge Phase Two
04:47 Stonehenge Phase Three
06:07 Stonehenge Phase Four
06:24 Stonehenge Phase Five
06:35 Origins of the Stones
09:16 Purpose of the Monument
13:39 A Ritual Landscape
✨ JOIN MY CHANNEL
youtube.com/channel/UC0Hs5t0U6Uf993Tba22YmKA/join
✨ SUPPORT VIA PATREON
patreon.com/MegalithHunter
✨ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIALS
Instagram & Facebook: @MegalithHunter
Twitter: @Megalith_Hunter
✨ REFERENCES
Bevins, R. E. et al. The Stonehenge Altar Stone was probably not sourced from the Old Red Sandstone of the Anglo-Welsh Basin: time to broaden our geographic and stratigraphic horizons? J. Archaeolog. Sci. Rep. 51, 104215 (2023).
Darvill, T. (2022). Keeping time at Stonehenge. Antiquity, 96(386), pp.319-335.
Gaffney, V.L., Baldwin, E., Bates, M., Bates, C.R., Gaffney, C.F., Hamilton, D., Kinnaird, T., Neubauer, W., Yorston, R., Allaby, R. and Chapman, H., 2020. A massive, Late Neolithic pit structure associated with Durrington Walls Henge.
Magli, G. and Belmonte, J.A. (2022). Archaeoastronomy and the alleged Stonehenge calendar. arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.07981.
Pearson, M.P., Pollard, J., Richards, C., Thomas, J., Tilley, C. and Welham, K. (2020). Stonehenge for the ancestors: Part 1. Landscape and monuments. Sidestone Press, Leiden.
Pearson, M.P. (2013). Researching Stonehenge: Theories Past and Present. AI, Vol. 16(1):72-83. DOI: 10.5334/ai.1601
✨ PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS
Google Earth
Location of Stonehenge and postholes
CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Durrington Walls, credit: Ethan Doyle White
CC BY 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Summary of calendar numerology at Stonehenge, credit: Darvill, T., as shown in the paper above.
CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Plan of Stonehenge, credit: Drawn by Adamsan from Cleal, Walker, & Montague, Stonehenge in its Landscape.
Stonehenge at sunset, credit: Jeffrey Pfau
CC BY 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Drawing of the Stonehenge landscape, credit: Dunn, P., as it appears in Pearson, M.P., Researching Stonehenge: Theories Past and Present as referenced above.
Map of Stonehenge landscape highlighting the Greater Cursus and Durrington Walls, credit: Gaffney, V. L., et al., in the paper referenced above.
Drawings of the Neolithic pits discovered in the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes project credit: Gaffney, V. L., et al., in the paper referenced above.
CC BY-SA 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Thumbnail: Altar Stone at Stonehenge, credit: Pam Brophy
Standing and recumbent stones at Waun Mawn, credit: Hansjoerg Lipp
CC BY 2.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Stonehenge, credit: garethwiscombe
Public domain
Woodhenge
