Stonehenge Rocks Traveled 160 Miles From Wales, Scientists Say (VIDEO)

Stonehenge has long inspired dreamers, scientists and fake rockers. Now the most proactive members of that trinity (rhymes with bientists) say they've pinpointed the exact quarry site for Stonehenge's inner horseshoe of "bluestone," or non-native, rocks, raised earlier than any others in the structure. The culprit is a rock 160 miles away called Craig Rhos-y-Felin, an outcropping in North Pembrokeshire, Wales that stretches 70 meters long.

The discovery has clarified old questions into new ones: how did the quarried rock get from Wales to England? What was ancient man doing cutting enormous rocks off even more enormous rocks? And (private question): should the Stonehenge rocks be called Craig Rhos-y-Felin Juniors? For a video rundown on the development as well as a primer on how to pronounce "Pembrokeshire" correctly, check out the clip below, courtesy our weird friends at HuffPost Weird.

WATCH:

Comments

[rosepierre]

09:01 PM on 12/22/2011

I bet the Republicans don't know that Stonehenge was built from a government jobs program.

[Forester]

06:05 PM on 12/21/2011

Oh yea? Well I used to go swimming in a granite quarry that was the source for the Brooklyn Bridge towers.

[darlenebonny]

11:10 AM on 12/21/2011

You mean people from outer space didn't do it?

[butchcliff]

05:52 AM on 12/21/2011

This info is years & years old. Moved them on land by smearing smashed up fish on logs for lubrication

[Cassandra Velasco]

05:07 AM on 12/21/2011

Nothing is impossible when religious fervor supplies the power! Scientists have already discovered quarry sites and figured out how the great stone heads of Easter Island were carved, excavated, loaded, hauled and mounted. And the pyramids of Egypt and Central America's Mayas are even more impressive, in terms of tons of rocks being quarried, moved and set upon one another, than Stonehenge. Each prehistoric site should be admired in its own right; If mankind can build pyramids with only a square, a plumbline and a level, and Stonehenge with possibly less, what comes next, after we've gone to the moon?

[Air Vice Marshal Park]

01:37 AM on 12/21/2011

The really curious thing is how these large stones were moved from Wales to Stonehenge. The assumption was that they were moved by boat but all attempts to duplicate that have resulted in sinkings. The only other possibility is that they were moved overland but that looks equally impossible.

Even if that question is solved, the next question is why.

[Moxo]

01:35 AM on 12/21/2011

Best time to see Stonehenge is on a night filled with thunder and lightning.

[Air Vice Marshal Park]

01:42 AM on 12/21/2011

I visited there in broad daylight and it was f+++++g spooky.

[Moxo]

02:32 AM on 12/21/2011

On a cold morn with thick fog!! Even spookier but still awesome.

[michelesda]

01:48 PM on 12/20/2011

This is new? Scientists have known this forever.

[ThinkCreeps]

04:29 AM on 12/21/2011

Indeed, I guess the report didn't emphasize the key bit, that rather than knowing they just came from Preseli, the specific quarry has been identified.

[michelesda]

09:50 AM on 12/21/2011

I half suspected that. Even so, that's really bad writing. If it were a highschool composition, you would get it back with "muddled thinking" or some such in red pencil in the margin.

[DanoX]

10:03 AM on 12/20/2011

Whoopity Freakin' Do!!! There are hundreds, if not thousands, of stone circles around Britain. The people near stone-bore were just smart enough to make theirs a tourist trap for idiot foreigners.

[LiberalLee]

11:54 PM on 12/20/2011

You know... I've been there.
Ever been out of your hometown?
Even once?

[headstrong]

09:47 AM on 12/20/2011

I'm sure I heard this already years ago.

[mrkurtzhedead]

09:13 AM on 12/20/2011

What is weird about this? Why dumb everything down? It's science.

[jsgaetano]

02:28 AM on 12/20/2011

Captian Kirk built Stonehenge. He did it before he took those whales into the future.

[Vapula]

12:57 AM on 12/20/2011

Should it be called Craig Rhos-y-Felin Juniors? Is another pointless argument developing?

[athenasword]

11:20 PM on 12/19/2011

Incredible. Such a distance! Also amazing is how this ancient holy place continues to hold such mystery and fascination for us today.

[DanoX]

10:04 AM on 12/20/2011

Not really. It only holds interest for those easily suckered in by tourist traps and roadside attractions.

[athenasword]

10:32 AM on 12/20/2011

Have you been there? Have you stood in the center of those stones? I have and it is a powerful and moving experience. The place literally hums with the thousands of years of prayers and ceremony.

[LiberalLee]

11:55 PM on 12/20/2011

Coming from someone that probably thinks a bowling alley is high culture...
We'll ignore you as you deserve from now on.
Go put the WWE on. It's more your style, and probably all you can handle.

[SamEllison]

11:09 PM on 12/19/2011

You mean there is a HuffPo non-weird?