Prehistoric builders transported Devil’s Arrows 11 miles

史前建筑者将“魔鬼之箭”巨石搬运了11英里

Stonehenge is the most famous example of megalithic architecture across Britain and Ireland, but there are plenty of others, including Calanais, Newgrange, and Avebury, as well as the Devil’s Arrows. The latter is Britain’s tallest standing stone alignment, yet little is known about the provenance of its stones. Scientists have confirmed that the stones came from a site 18 kilometers (11 miles) away, transported by humans rather than glacial movement, according to a paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

巨石阵是英国和爱尔兰最著名的巨石建筑，但除此之外还有许多其他遗迹，包括卡拉尼什（Calanais）、纽格莱奇（Newgrange）、埃夫伯里（Avebury）以及“魔鬼之箭”（Devil’s Arrows）。后者是英国最高的立石阵列，但人们对其石材的来源知之甚少。根据发表在《英国皇家学会A辑：数学、物理与工程科学》上的一篇论文，科学家们证实这些石头来自18公里（11英里）外的地方，是由人类搬运而非冰川运动所致。

“Sites in southern England and Scotland receive considerable attention but monuments like the Devil’s Arrows have remained comparatively understudied despite their significance,” said co-author Jim Leary of the University of York. “We have now proved that Neolithic communities moved several 25-ton stones across Yorkshire, transforming a familiar site into an epic quest to create a sacred landscape.”

“英格兰南部和苏格兰的遗址受到了相当多的关注，但像‘魔鬼之箭’这样的纪念碑尽管意义重大，却一直未得到充分研究，”约克大学的合著者吉姆·利里（Jim Leary）表示，“我们现在证明了新石器时代的社区在约克郡搬运了几块25吨重的巨石，将一个熟悉的地点变成了一场创造神圣景观的史诗般的探索。”

Stonehenge has been the focus of recent chemical analyses identifying where all the stones that make up the structure came from, revealing that many originated in quarries a significant distance away. For instance, a 2019 study concluded that the 42 bluestones that make up the inner ring came all the way from western Wales. The outer layer of sarsen stones hails from much closer to home: Marlborough Downs, an area of round, grassy hills 25 to 30 km (17 miles) north of Stonehenge, which has the largest concentration of sarsen in the UK. In 2024, Anthony Clarke, who co-authored this latest study, and his team discovered that the Stonehenge Altar Stone originated from the Orkney region in the very northeast corner of Scotland, rather than Wales.

巨石阵一直是近期化学分析的焦点，旨在确定构成该结构的每一块石头的来源，结果显示许多石头来自遥远的采石场。例如，2019年的一项研究得出结论，构成内环的42块青石来自遥远的威尔士西部。外层的萨森砂岩（sarsen stones）则来自更近的地方：马尔伯勒丘陵（Marlborough Downs），这是一个位于巨石阵以北25至30公里（17英里）处的圆形草丘区域，也是英国萨森砂岩最集中的地方。2024年，本项最新研究的合著者安东尼·克拉克（Anthony Clarke）及其团队发现，巨石阵的祭坛石（Altar Stone）起源于苏格兰最东北角的奥克尼地区，而非威尔士。

Next, they tackled the long-standing debate over how the stones got to that location in the first place. One theory holds that glaciers moved the bluestones at least part of the way from Wales to Salisbury Plain in southern England, while others contend that humans moved them—although precisely how that was done has yet to be conclusively determined. Earlier this year, Curtin’s team produced the strongest scientific evidence to date that it was humans, not glaciers, that transported the stones. They analyzed hundreds of zircon crystals collected from rivers close to the historic monument, looking for evidence of Pleistocene-era sediment. If the stones had “sailed” to the plain from farther north, there would be a distinct mineral signature in that sediment as the transported rocks eroded over time. They didn’t find that signature, making it far more likely that humans transported the stone.

接下来，他们着手解决关于这些石头最初是如何到达该地点的长期争论。一种理论认为，冰川将青石从威尔士至少搬运了一部分路程到英格兰南部的索尔兹伯里平原，而另一些人则认为是由人类搬运的——尽管具体是如何做到的尚未有定论。今年早些时候，柯廷（Curtin）的团队提供了迄今为止最有力的科学证据，证明是人类而非冰川搬运了这些石头。他们分析了从历史遗迹附近的河流中收集的数百颗锆石晶体，寻找更新世沉积物的证据。如果这些石头是从更北的地方“漂流”到平原的，那么随着搬运的岩石在漫长岁月中侵蚀，沉积物中应该会有独特的矿物特征。他们没有发现这种特征，这使得人类搬运石头的可能性大大增加。

The devil went down to Boroughbridge. Now Curtin et al. have turned their attention to the Devil’s Arrows, three aligned stones located in the lowlands, just outside Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire. Local legend holds that the Devil formed the arrangement by standing on How Hill and hurling giant stone arrows while shouting “Borobrigg keep out o’ way, for Aldborough town I will ding down!” But the arrows didn’t quite reach their target and landed where the stones stand today. The tallest of the stones stands 6.85 meters (22.5 feet). The stones are part of a broader Neolithic complex, and it’s believed their arrangement is meant to align with the southernmost summer moonrise.

魔鬼来到了博罗布里奇（Boroughbridge）。现在，柯廷等人将注意力转向了“魔鬼之箭”，这是位于北约克郡博罗布里奇郊外低地上的三块排列整齐的石头。当地传说称，魔鬼站在豪山（How Hill）上，一边大喊“博罗布里奇让开，我要摧毁奥尔德伯勒镇！”，一边投掷巨大的石箭，从而形成了这种排列。但这些箭没能完全击中目标，落在了今天石头矗立的地方。其中最高的石头高6.85米（22.5英尺）。这些石头是一个更广泛的新石器时代建筑群的一部分，据信它们的排列是为了对准最南端的夏季月出方位。

A 2025 geophysical survey found two distinct patches of magnetic disturbance thought to be an indication of former positions of stones that have been removed. There is also evidence, in the form of possible stone sockets, that the line of stones had once continued north and may have served as way markers along the Great North Route. Among historical records, there is a 16th century account of a fourth standing stone to the north-northwest of the surviving Devil’s Arrows that had toppled over by the dawn of the 17th century. There is a 1687 report of locals breaking up a stone and using the remnants to build the nearby Peg Bridge, transporting the upper segment to nearby Aldborough Manor. And 19th century antiquarian J.R. Walbran suggested that a repurposed monolith had become the Battle Cross Monument that once stood in Boroughbridge’s market square before being relocated to Aldborough in 1952.

2025年的一项地球物理调查发现了两处明显的磁干扰区域，被认为是已移除石头的原位置迹象。此外，通过可能的石坑证据表明，这条石阵线曾经向北延伸，并可能曾作为“大北路线”（Great North Route）上的路标。在历史记录中，有一份16世纪的记载提到，在现存“魔鬼之箭”的北西北方向曾有第四块立石，但在17世纪初就已经倒塌。1687年的一份报告称，当地人将一块石头砸碎，用残余部分建造了附近的佩格桥（Peg Bridge），并将上部搬运到了附近的奥尔德伯勒庄园（Aldborough Manor）。19世纪的古物研究者J.R.沃尔布兰（J.R. Walbran）认为，一块被重新利用的巨石成为了“战斗十字纪念碑”（Battle Cross Monument），它曾矗立在博罗布里奇的市场广场，后于1852年被迁至奥尔德伯勒。

Clarke et al. took samples from all three Devil’s Arrows stones, as well as from the Battle Cross monument and Peg Bridge, using small sections of adhesive tape applied to inconspicuous areas of the stones free of lichens or mosses. Grain samples stuck to the tape and were later removed by dissolving the tape glue with mineral turpentine. They removed coarse magnetic materials and light minerals like quartz and feldspars, and imaged what remained in the samples using field emission scanning electron microscopy. They also performed an isotopic analysis of zircon and apatite minerals to get an age “fingerprint” in order to match the stones to their likely source.

克拉克等人从“魔鬼之箭”的三块石头、战斗十字纪念碑以及佩格桥上采集了样本，他们使用小块胶带贴在石头上没有地衣或苔藓的不显眼区域。颗粒样本粘在胶带上，随后通过用矿物松节油溶解胶带胶水将其取下。他们去除了粗磁性材料以及石英和长石等轻矿物，并使用场发射扫描电子显微镜对样本中的剩余部分进行了成像。他们还对锆石和磷灰石矿物进行了同位素分析，以获得年龄“指纹”，从而将这些石头与它们可能的来源进行匹配。

The Devil’s Arrows are made of a coarse-grained sandstone. Plumpton Rocks, which is closer to the Devil’s Arrows, had previously been identified as the probable source of the stones. Based on their analysis, Clarke and his team concluded that the most likely source is actually Brimham Rocks, meaning the stones were transported by prehistoric builders significantly farther than originally thought.

“魔鬼之箭”由粗粒砂岩制成。此前，距离“魔鬼之箭”较近的普兰普顿岩石（Plumpton Rocks）被认为是这些石头的可能来源。根据他们的分析，克拉克和他的团队得出结论，最可能的来源实际上是布里姆汉姆岩石（Brimham Rocks），这意味着史前建筑者搬运这些石头的距离比最初想象的要远得多。