Experts on track with new Stonehenge ‘railway’ theory

Were 25-tonne sarsen stones moved on wooden tracks?

- ALEX ROSS

The most realistic image of the building of Stonehenge has been created, revealing for the first time how stones were pulled along wooden tracks “like a sort of railway” to the monument.

The World Heritage Site in Wiltshire was built 5,000 years ago, first with the placing of bluestones transported from the Preseli Hills in Wales, and then, hundreds of years later, it was altered with the arrival of huge sarsen stones to create the iconic stone circle.

The 25-tonne sarsen stones were brought from the Marlborough Downs, some 15 miles away, and until recently, it was through that they were rolled over timber posts along the distance.

However, after studying cultures in Indonesia a century ago, some experts now believe they were hauled along trackways of laid-down wood in the wetland parts of the route.

The theory has been presented for the first time in a visual image showing how Stonehenge was constructed, including the transport of the stones, their positioning, and the social gathering.

Created from laser-scan data along with archaeological work, the image, made by English Heritage, appears in a book by Dr Susan Greaney, lecturer in archaeology at the University of Exeter.