Ancient Yorkshire stones’ origins revealed by geologic clues

Researchers in the United Kingdom traced the origins of the Devil’s Arrows, a group of massive stones standing near Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire, to Brimham Rocks, 18 kilometers away.

A team led by Anthony Clarke, Jim Leary, and Chris Kirkland used adhesive tape to collect tiny zircon and apatite grains from the stones, then analyzed their isotopic ratios to determine their geologic source.

For decades, scientists believed the stones came from closer locations like Plumpton Rocks, but the new analysis proved those theories incorrect. The Devil’s Arrows, weighing over 25 tons each, were erected between the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, around 2000 BC. The study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society A demonstrates that people deliberately transported the stones from Brimham Rocks, a landscape of large rock formations, rather than them being deposited by glaciers.

This suggests the location held cultural or spiritual significance for the prehistoric communities who moved them. Originally, the Devil’s Arrows numbered at least five, but one was broken up and used to build a bridge in the 17th century. Another was incorporated into the Battle Cross of Aldborough, a monument also made from the same stone.

Archaeologists now plan to excavate both the Devil’s Arrows site and Brimham Rocks to learn more about how the stones were quarried, transported, and erected without modern machinery.