- A new study reveals why Stonehenge It has remained unchanged since it was built 5,000 years ago.
- Sasens, Huge boulder Forms part of Stonehenge and contains interlocking quartz crystals.
- These crystals—some of which are between 100 and 1.6 billion years old—make the rock very durable.
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Ever since Stone Age builders built huge sandstone boulders or sandstones on the Salisbury Plain in England 5,000 years ago, most of Stonehenge has remained almost unchanged.
A new study It reveals how the monument has withstood the test of time so successfully: the quartz crystals that make up sarsens form an interlocking structure, making the boulder almost indestructible.
“Now we know why these things still exist,” said David Nash, a professor of physical geography at the University of Brighton, who is a co-author of the study. “This stone is very durable-it really resists erosion and weathering.”
The study also showed that some sands of Stonehenge contain rock particles between 1 billion and 1.6 billion years old.
Unlock the chemical secrets of sarsens
This new study originated from a deportation act.
In 1958, a team was repairing a cracked sandstone, and a driller named Robert Phillips dug a 91 cm long Stonehenge. He eventually took the relic to his home in Florida, USA, but 60 years later, the Phillips family sent it back to the historic England, a charity that protects Stonehenge.
The return of the rock provided Nash’s team with an opportunity to investigate the geological origin of the monument. Stonehenge is protected by law, so it is impossible to extract new samples for research.
The researchers analyzed the Phillips sample and another sample found in a nearby museum to observe the internal structure of Sassen. They scanned the rock with X-rays, observed it under a microscope, and performed a CT scan.
“This demo is probably the most analyzed stone besides Moon Rock!” Nash said in a press release.
His team found that the sample contained tiny quartz particles, which were pieced together like a puzzle. These particles are glued together by other crystallized quartz flakes—”creating this incredibly powerful matrix of interlocking crystals that make up the rock,” Nash said.
This interlocking structure can help explain why Stonehenge has lasted for thousands of years.
Research also shows that sarsens is composed of sediments deposited in the Mesozoic from 252 million to 66 million years ago, when dinosaurs were walking on the earth.
The work photographed by Phillips is from a sarsen named Stone 58, a huge boulder that is 21 feet above the ground and weighs about 24 tons. Stonehenge originally had 80 such sarsens in the square arch, but only 52 remained. According to Nash, 50 of these 52 have the same chemical composition, so Stone 58’s findings may apply to the rest.
“No one has seen Sarsen in such detail before, and this is a good little example of Stonehenge’s history,” he said.
sarsens probably came from nearby woods
The people of the Neolithic Age built Stonehenge in two waves of construction 5,000 years ago and 4,500 years ago. The monument is composed of two concentric circles, between these arcs are set smaller bluestones.
Archaeologists traced the bluestones to the Waun Mawn site in Wales 225 kilometers away.Some evidence suggests that the bluestone circle was first built there, and then Moved to its final resting place a few centuries laterWhen the Stone Age farmers moved east to the island, they brought bluestones weighing 2 to 4 tons.
But the origin of sarsens is still a mystery Until last year, When Nash helped discover Sandstone boulder From an area 24 kilometers away from the monument named West Woods.
A large sarsen stone in West Woods, most of the Stonehenge sarsen comes from this area.
Nash believes that the builders of Stonehenge probably used some kind of roller or dragged sarsens onto a smooth surface like frost.
“There is no evidence that they used animals to do this, but we don’t know,” he said.
The builders of Stonehenge “choose the right things”
Ideas about what Stonehenge was used for ranged from the celestial calendar to the sacred cemetery. The main entrance of the monument is aligned with the sunrise on the summer solstice.
“In short, Stonehenge is the ceremonial center of southern England,” said Archaeologist Matt Leivers of the Wessex Archaeological Team in England. Tell the insider before.
Nash said he was not sure whether the builders of Stonehenge knew that “they chose the right materials to build a monument that will last a long time.”
However, if they chose different types of local materials, such as the chalk rocks that make up the White Cliffs of Dover, England, Stonehenge would not stand for that long.
It now appears that any threat to the life of the monument comes from the local rabbits.
“The only thing that can happen to Stonehenge is that rabbits may dig holes under the rocks and destroy them from below, causing them to fall to the side,” Nash said.
