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Exotic granodiorite lithics from Structure 5 at West Kennet, Avebury World Heritage Site, Wiltshire, UK by Rob Ixer, Richard Bevins, Nick Pearce et al, Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol 118 (2025)
[This is referring to the bits of granite 'grus' (now referred to as corestones or cobbles) that were found in a Beaker period grave (but these probably earlier) and reported as potentially transported from the Cheviot Hills in NE England / SE Scotland. The paper confirms the location and adds clarity and locational accuracy. The description gets technical but the introduction explains the background and the conclusions are intruguing - MegP Ed]
"It is difficult to know or guess the purpose of the corestones, but their spatial distribution at West Kennet suggests there was one; hence their selection was intentional. The Cheviot granodiorite is a totally alien rock type to Wessex, in terms of any natural occurrence (either as outcrop or as glacial erratics); similarly, it is unique in terms of prehistoric artefacts, as there are no known Cheviot granodiorite standing stones or axe-heads in Wessex (or indeed elsewhere)."
Seventy-seven pieces of very weathered pyroxene-bearing granodiorite corestone excavated from trenches 2, 3 and 9 within Structure 5 of West Kennet in 2019 and 2021 and varying from small pebbles to >500grms cobbles, have a total weight of 22kg. Detailed petrographical and geochemical analyses of typical samples show them to share an unusual (for Britain) and distinctive mineralogy and petrography and also suggest they are all from a single outcrop/subcrop.
The essentially unaltered pyroxene-bearing granodiorite carries ‘large’ skeletal zircon crystals, which are a determinative characteristic.
Petrological comparisons with similar British granodiorites show that its origin is to be found within the large, 60km2 and lithologically highly diverse Cheviot Igneous Complex of Northumberland, more than 450km from West Kennet.
Three Cheviot samples were selected for comparative analysis, one chosen for its petrographic similarity to the corestones, as suggested by previous workers, a second, close to the first and also to significant Neolithic activity at Threestoneburn Stone Circle [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=998], and finally a third based on petrography and notable topography, namely Cunyan Crags.
Only the last sample shares a sufficient number of similarities that there warrants further investigation in that area. The corestones are highly exotic with regard to their find spot and although it is difficult to conceive of any practical use for them, West Kennet provides yet another possible example of Late Neolithic long distance prehistoric transport, a distance of between 450km if taken from outcrop and 150km if collected from secondary glacial drift sources, although North Sea coastal glacial tills as a source for the stones appears unlikely and from East Anglia very unlikely. The original Cheviot Hill location remains unidentified but is being actively sought.
Download from: http://www.academia.edu/125773662/West_Kennet_Granodiorites (free login required)
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