Stonehenge’s 6-tonne Altar Stone was transported from Scotland

August 15, 2024 Evrim Yazgin

How was Stonehenge built in ancient Britain 5,000 years ago?

New evidence suggests the Late Stone Age people who made the colossal structure would have to have used advanced transport methods to move the stones even further than previously thought.

Stonehenge at sunset — The Altar Stone at Stonehenge circled in black. Credit: English Heritage.

According to English Heritage, the largest stones – called sarsens and weighing up to 30 tonnes – are believed to have been transported from Marlborough Downs, about 32 kilometres away from the site.

The smaller stones weigh less than 10 tonnes. They were thought to have all come from the Preseli Hills in Wales more than 200km away. Transporting these gigantic stones this far would have been a monumental feat for ancient people in Britain.

But new research published in the journal Nature suggests that one stone, the 6-tonne Altar Stone, has its origins even further afield in Scotland.

Some stones at stonehenge — The Altar Stone, seen here underneath two bigger Sarsen stones. Credit: Professor Nick Pearce, Aberystwyth University. (snip-More)

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/stonehenge-altar-stone-scotland-transport/

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New liquids can safely extract nanoplastics from water

August 14, 2024 Ellen Phiddian Cosmos science journalist

Person in dark room looks at glowing vial — Gary Baker with the solvent. Credit: Sam O’Keefe/University of Missouri

US researchers have made substances that can extract nanoplastics from water.

The solvents, made from non-toxic components, could remove 98% of the tiny plastic particles from water in a lab environment.

The team has published its research in ACS Applied Engineering Materials.

“Our strategy uses a small amount of designer solvent to absorb plastic particles from a large volume of water,” says corresponding author Gary Baker, an associate professor at the department of chemistry in the University of Missouri-Columbia. (snip-More)

https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/chemistry/nanoplastic-solvent-extraction/

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Elite woman’s grave dates from before Genghis Khan’s Mongolian Empire

August 14, 2024 Evrim Yazgin

Scientists have made an unexpected discovery in a thousand-year-old abandoned fortress in Mongolia.

Buried in the walls of the fortress is the grave of an elite woman who pre-dates the rise of the founder of the Mongolian Empire, Genghis Khan (also known as Chinggis Khan). The frontier fortress is about 1.4 km west of Khar Nuur lake in eastern Dornod province of Mongolia, only kilometres from the Chinese border.