Preseli bluestone source outcrops

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Outcrops in the Mynydd Preseli and north Pembrokeshire that are proposed as sources of particular Stonehenge bluestones, with the paper behind each attribution.

References

• 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
• Bevins, R.E., Pearce, N.J.G., Ixer, R.A. 2021. Revisiting the provenance of the Stonehenge bluestones: refining the provenance of the Group 2 non-spotted dolerites using rare earth element geochemistry. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 38: 103083. DOI
• Pearce, N.J.G., Bevins, R.E., Ixer, R.A. 2025. Carn Goedog is a 10 m thick, northward dipping sill: a comment correcting significant geological errors in 'Carn Goedog on Mynydd Preseli was not the site of a Bluestone Megalith Quarry' by Brian John. Archaeology in Wales 63.
• 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)
• 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., Pearce, N.J.G., Parker Pearson, M., Ixer, R.A. 2022. Identification of the source of dolerites used at the Waun Mawn stone circle in the Mynydd Preseli, west Wales and implications for the proposed link with Stonehenge. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 45: 103556. 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
• 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)
• Parker Pearson, M., Bevins, R., Ixer, R., Pollard, J., Richards, C., Welham, K. et al. 2015. Craig Rhos-y-felin: a Welsh bluestone megalith quarry for Stonehenge. Antiquity 89: 1331–1352. DOI (open access)
• 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
• Ixer, R.A., Bevins, R.E., Pirrie, D., Power, M., Webb, P. 2022. Stonehenge Dacite Group D: fact or fiction? Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine 115: 117–132.
• Bevins, R.E., Ixer, R.A. 2013. Carn Alw as a source of the rhyolitic component of the Stonehenge bluestones: a critical re-appraisal of the petrographical account of H.H. Thomas. Journal of Archaeological Science 40: 3293–3301. DOI
• Darvill, T., Wainwright, G. 2014. Beyond Stonehenge: Carn Menyn Quarry and the origin and date of bluestone extraction in the Preseli Hills of south-west Wales. Antiquity 88(342): 1099–1114. DOI
• Thomas, H.H. 1923. The source of the stones of Stonehenge. The Antiquaries Journal 3(3): 239–260. DOI
• John, B. 2025. Carn Goedog on Mynydd Preseli was not the site of a Bluestone Megalith Quarry. Archaeology in Wales 63.
• 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

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