eprintid: 10163289 rev_number: 10 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/16/32/89 datestamp: 2023-01-18 14:36:42 lastmod: 2023-11-07 07:10:06 status_changed: 2023-01-18 14:36:42 type: article metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Parker Pearson, M creators_name: Bevins, R creators_name: Pearce, N creators_name: Ixer, R creators_name: Pollard, J creators_name: Richards, C creators_name: Welham, K title: Reconstructing extraction techniques at Stonehenge's bluestone megalith quarries in the Preseli hills of west Wales ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B03 divisions: C03 divisions: F31 divisions: K74 keywords: Megalith quarries, Dolerite, Rhyolite, Stonehenge, Mynydd Preseli, Neolithic note: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions. abstract: Excavations at two of the sources of Stonehenge's bluestones in Mynydd Preseli, west Wales, have led to the discovery of stone tools associated with megalith quarrying in the final centuries of the fourth millennium BC, shortly before the suspected date of the bluestones’ erection at Stonehenge, 240 km away. Among the most plentiful of these tools are stone wedges, three of which were found in situ at the rhyolite bluestone quarry of Craig Rhos-y-felin. Two of these were positioned in the joints of a rhyolite pillar adjacent to a recess left by a removed pillar. Geochemical analysis reveals that these and the third wedge are of compositions different to the rock on either side of the cracks into which they had been driven, confirming their identification as quarrying tools. This research sheds new light on the methods used to extract the stones for Stonehenge. date: 2022-12 date_type: published publisher: Elsevier BV official_url: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103697 oa_status: green full_text_type: other language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1990481 doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103697 lyricists_name: Parker Pearson, Michael lyricists_id: MPARK87 actors_name: Parker Pearson, Michael actors_id: MPARK87 actors_role: owner full_text_status: public publication: Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports volume: 46 article_number: 103697 citation: Parker Pearson, M; Bevins, R; Pearce, N; Ixer, R; Pollard, J; Richards, C; Welham, K; (2022) Reconstructing extraction techniques at Stonehenge's bluestone megalith quarries in the Preseli hills of west Wales. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports , 46 , Article 103697. 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103697 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103697>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10163289/2/Parker%20Pearson_Reconstructing%20extraction%20techniques%20at%20Stonehenge%27s%20bluestone%20megalith%20quarries%20in%20the%20Preseli%20hills%20of%20west%20Wales_AAM.pdf