Stonehenge still surprises: How research reshapes an ancient story
Britain and Ireland aren't short of fascinating monuments from prehistory but Stonehenge surely leads the way when it comes to media interest in the period, from TV documentaries to newspaper articles. It also continues to attract the interest of researchers around the world keen to uncover new insights into the 5000-year-old landmark. What's more there's still plenty to learn. Two linked recent bits of Stonehenge research led by Curtin University in Perth, Western Australia, have caught my eye. A Curtin team headed a Nature study published in August 2024 that revealed the monument's so-called Altar Stone, long believe to originate from Wales, probably hailed from Scotland. The six-tonne stone lies recumbent, mostly buried by a fallen monolith. Photo: AnirMitra / Pixabay It's a fantastic achievement to have a first-author paper in Nature at any stage of an academic career so huge kudos to then PhD researcher Anthony Clarke from Curtin's School of Earth and Pl...