Detrital zircon–apatite fingerprinting challenges glacial transport of Stonehenge’s megaliths

How Stonehenge’s building blocks arrived on Salisbury Plain remains debated, with glacial and human transport mechanisms proposed. Here we test the possibility of Pleistocene glacial sediment input using grain-scale U–Pb fingerprinting of detrital zircon and apatite from modern stream sediments surrounding Stonehenge. Zircon ages span 3396–285 Ma, with age peaks at ~1090, 1690, and 1740 Ma, matching the Laurentian basement of northern Britain. Salisbury Plain detrital zircon ages match those of southern British rocks sourced from the London Basin, implying local sediment recycling rather than glaciogenic transport. Apatite ages of ~60 Ma reflect post-depositional U–Pb resetting, consistent with the distal effects of the Alpine orogeny. Collectively, our data show Salisbury Plain remained unglaciated during the Pleistocene, making direct glacial transport of Stonehenge’s megaliths unlikely. Salisbury Plain detrital zircon ages align with southern British rocks from the London Basin, indicating local sedimentary recycling without glaciogenic evidence, negating glacial transport of the Stonehenge blocks, according to detrital zircon and apatite U-Pb isotopic fingerprinting of stream sediments across the Salisbury Plain.