Where do the stones at Stonehenge come from? Typically weighing 20 tonnes and standing up to 7 metres tall, sarsens form all fifteen stones of Stonehenge’s central horseshoe, the uprights and lintels of the outer circle, as well as outlying stones such as the Heel Stone, the Slaughter Stone and the Station Stones. Fifty-two of the original 80 or so sarsens remain at the monument. In this talk Professor David Nash from the University of Brighton presents the latest research by his team on where the sarsen megaliths at Stonehenge originated. He will explain the development of the geochemical fingerprinting technique used to match sarsen stones to source areas.

He also reveals how the so-called Phillip’s Core was recovered from the US and came to play a pivotal role in the research, which indicates that most of Stonehenge’s large sarsen stones likely came from a site around 15 miles away in West Woods on the edge of the Marlborough Downs. This new geological research provides further data that could help trace the sources of the remaining stones.