Stonehenge bluestones (hub)

Topic page

The non-sarsen "foreign" stones at Stonehenge: dolerites (spotted and unspotted), rhyolites, volcanic tuffs and sandstones. Most can be traced to the Mynydd Preseli area of north Pembrokeshire. This page is the entry point for the petrography and provenance work by Ixer, Bevins, Pearce, Thorpe …

References

• Pearce, N.J.G., Bevins, R.E., Ixer, R.A. 2022. Portable XRF investigation of Stonehenge Stone 62 and potential source dolerite outcrops in the Mynydd Preseli, west Wales. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 44: 103525. DOI
• Bevins, R.E., Ixer, R.A., Pearce, N.J.G. 2014. Carn Goedog is the likely major source of Stonehenge doleritic bluestones: evidence based on compatible element geochemistry and Principal Component Analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science 42: 179–193. DOI
• Thomas, H.H. 1923. The source of the stones of Stonehenge. The Antiquaries Journal 3(3): 239–260. DOI
• Thorpe, R.S., Williams-Thorpe, O., Jenkins, D.G., Watson, J.S., Ixer, R.A., Thomas, R.G. 1991. The geological sources and transport of the bluestones of Stonehenge, Wiltshire, UK. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 57(2): 103–157. DOI
• Bevins, R., Atkinson, N., Ixer, R., Evans, J. 2017. U–Pb zircon age constraints for the Ordovician Fishguard Volcanic Group and further evidence for the provenance of the Stonehenge bluestones. Journal of the Geological Society 174: 14–17. DOI
• Parker Pearson, M., Pollard, J., Richards, C., Welham, K., Casswell, C., French, C., Schlee, D., Shaw, D., Simmons, E., Stanford, A., Bevins, R., Ixer, R. 2019. Megalith quarries for Stonehenge's bluestones. Antiquity 93: 45–62. DOI (open access)
• Bevins, R.E., Pearce, N.J.G., Ixer, R.A., Pirrie, D., Andò, S., Hillier, S., Turner, P., Power, M. 2023. 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? Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 51: 104215. DOI (open access)
• Bevins, R.E., Pearce, N.J.G., Ixer, R.A., Scourse, J., Daw, T., Parker Pearson, M., Pitts, M., Field, D., Pirrie, D., Saunders, I., Power, M. 2025. The enigmatic 'Newall boulder' excavated at Stonehenge in 1924: new data and correcting the record. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 66: 105303. DOI (open access)
• Ixer, R., Bevins, R., Pirrie, D., Power, M., Pearce, N.J.G. 2026. William Cunnington's 1884 Stonehenge lithologies revisited. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 119: 1–19.
• John, B.S. 2024. A bluestone boulder at Stonehenge: implications for the glacial transport theory. E&G Quaternary Science Journal 73: 117–134. DOI (open access)
• Williams-Thorpe, O., Thorpe, R.S. [1992]. Geochemistry, sources and transport of the Stonehenge bluestones. Proceedings of the British Academy [volume printed '11' in the local scan], 133–161.
• Bevins, R.E., Ixer, R.A., Pearce, N.J.G., Scourse, J.D., Daw, T. 2023. Lithological description and provenancing of a collection of bluestones from excavations at Stonehenge by William Hawley in 1924 with implications for the human versus ice transport debate of the monument's bluestone megaliths. Geoarchaeology 38: 771–785. DOI

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