On the western edge of Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire stand three pillars of gritstone that have towered over the English lowlands for roughly 4,000 years. The Devil's Arrows, the tallest surviving prehistoric stone row in Britain, reach up to seven metres, about 23 feet, into the sky. For more than a century, archaeologists and antiquarians argued about where the stones came from and how they got there. A new study now gives the answer: prehistoric builders deliberately hauled each stone, weighing more than 25 tonnes, at least 18 kilometres across the countryside before raising it into place.

The findings come from a team led by Dr. Anthony Clarke of Curtin University in Australia, working with colleagues from the University of York. Their paper, published on September 9, 2026, in Proceedings of the Royal Society A, is the first to pin down the geological source of the stones, and it overturns the long-standing assumption that the builders simply used the nearest available rock.

Solving the mystery with sticky tape and crystal grains

The Devil's Arrows are believed to date to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, around 2000 BC. Each surviving stone weighs in at more than 25 tonnes. The monument is thought to have once held a fourth stone that was later broken up and reused in antiquity, according to Archaeology Magazine.

To trace the stones without damaging them, the researchers used a low-impact technique. They pressed adhesive tape against the stone surfaces and lifted off tiny mineral grains for analysis in the laboratory. The team studied crystals of zircon and apatite, minerals whose age and chemistry form a kind of geological fingerprint that can be matched to specific rock formations.

Those fingerprints pointed to Brimham Rocks, an outcrop of Millstone Grit about 18 kilometres, or 11 miles, west of the monument. Earlier research had suggested Plumpton Rocks as the likely source because it sits closer to the Devil's Arrows. The new evidence rules that idea out. It also excludes a natural explanation: the direction of ancient glacial movement in the region does not fit a journey from Brimham Rocks to Boroughbridge, so glaciers did not carry the stones there.

Dr. Clarke said the results change how archaeologists think about the decisions prehistoric communities made when building monuments. "Our research shows these stones weren't simply taken from the nearest available source, they were deliberately chosen from a challenging landscape 18 kilometres away," he said in a statement released by Curtin University. "Each stone weighs more than 25 tonnes, so moving them would have required incredible planning, coordination and engineering skill."

Why the builders chose the far-away stone

Moving a 25-tonne block of gritstone nearly 20 kilometres over rough ground without wheels or draught animals is a formidable undertaking. Archaeologists believe the stones were dragged on rollers or sledges by large crews working in coordination, an effort that would have taken weeks or months of sustained labour. The new findings show the builders passed up suitable stone that was closer to home and went to the trouble of quarrying at Brimham Rocks instead.

What stands out is the choice itself. The origin of the stone seems to have mattered to the people who raised the monument, which suggests Brimham Rocks held cultural or spiritual meaning for them. Co-author Dr. Jim Leary of the University of York said the results show ancient communities were making deliberate and meaningful choices about where their stones came from, reflecting the importance of shared belief systems as well as the remarkable effort involved in moving them.

The findings link two Yorkshire landscapes that are both in the care of the National Trust. Justin Scully, the Trust's general manager for Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal and Brimham Rocks, said the research establishes a direct connection between the two sites through an ancient human story, and that the discovery adds a new chapter to the stones' history for the local communities that treasure them.

The team says the same non-invasive tape method could be applied to other standing stones whose origins remain uncertain. It plans targeted excavations at both the Devil's Arrows and around the Brimham Rocks source area to pin down when the stones were moved and how the monument was raised.

The find joins a run of recent reassessments of the ancient world. Archaeologists in France have uncovered what is believed to be the biggest Gallic coin workshop ever found, while AI-assisted surveys are revealing previously unknown ancient settlements.

Source: SciTechDaily, reporting the Curtin University-led study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society A; Archaeology Magazine also covered the find. Study DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2026.0504.