A geology team has contradicted claims that bluestones were dug by Bronze Age man from a west Wales quarry and carried 240 miles to build Stonehenge.
In a new twist, Open University geologists say the stones were in fact moved to Salisbury Plain by glaciers.
Last year archaeologists said the stones came from the Preseli Hills.
Recent research in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology suggests the stones were ripped from the ground and moved by glaciers during the Ice Age.
So they're syaing these things are glacial erratics. TO me that sounds kind of plausible. But then, how could a glacier drop them down in such precise alignments??!!
Okay, kidding. One would assume that there would be some sort of distribution of similar erratics outside of the procurement area that could be used to bolster this idea. OTOH, one would think that a bunch of large erratics would have been noticed by now since these things tend to frost-heave their way to the surface. Maybe they used all the big erratics in the area? Still, seems like a neat hypothesis that one could support in a number of ways.
Personal note: Being from Wisconsin, I have a keen knowledge of erratics. Being composed of largely glacial outwash, south-central Wisconsin is prime erratic area and in fact the farms around the are are nearly all bounded by rock fences built out of the erratics they had to haul out of the field every year due to frost heave. Matter of fact, my maternal grandfather was killed well before I was born while engaging in such activity.