Altar Stone traced to northeast Scotland; presenter proposes a second altar stone

November 04, 2026EnglandTheoryShare

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Key facts

• Petrological testing is presented as evidence that Stonehenge's Altar Stone comes from northeastern Scotland, the so-called Orcadian Basin.
• A paper testing stones from the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney found the micaceous sandstone similar but not an exact match; quarries were also checked with no source link found.
• The presenter notes submerged structures off Orkney that appear older than the stone circles, which date to about 3000 BC, and suggests the Altar Stone's source may now lie underwater.
• The Altar Stone measures about 16 ft long, about 3.5 ft wide and about 16 in thick, and lies buried beneath a fallen upright and lintel.
• Maria Wheatley argues a second Altar Stone was of a sandstone type whose fragments at Stonehenge analysed as South Wales material, and that it was taken to London (St James's Palace/Westminster) and lost, citing John Aubrey's 17th-century account.
• Andrew Collins and Aubrey Burl favour a limestone second stone: fragments reportedly reused as fold-over bridge lintels at Berwick St James, about 4 miles from Stonehenge, and re-erected upright in the 19th century; a 1933 photograph and a recent one show both upright and buried.
• Simon Banton identified two stone holes with no attribution to other bluestones or sarsens, both exactly on the main solstitial axis, where stones would face the winter solstice sunrise and summer solstice sunset, a separation of exactly 81°.
• Collins counters the 'no limestone at Stonehenge' argument by pointing to limestone blocks and fragments found as packing stones around the sarsen uprights.

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