Historic England Archive · ATK Collection · Excavated 1958

The Altar Stone

Stone 80 — an interpretive 3D reconstruction

16 ft × 3½ ft × 1¾ ft · c. 4.9 × 1.07 × 0.53 m (Atkinson 1979)

Display Ground level — 1958 turf Photo stations (red pins) Evidence confidence view

Photographed, 1958 campaign

Fracture faces — partially recorded

Underside — never recorded

PHOTO STATIONS

Select a red pin to read the 1958 photograph recorded from that position, with a link to the photograph itself below the model. Drag to rotate · scroll or pinch to zoom · right-drag to pan.

Geometry from Atkinson’s published dimensions and plan (Atkinson 1979, 56–7, 211–12; Cleal et al. 1995); break, bevelled SE end, battered NW end and surface features placed from Historic England Archive photographs examined 28 Jan 2025. Surface detail is schematic, not photogrammetric. Quartz vein and engraved zone after Daw, Fig. 2; hachured rings mark the post holes recorded on the plan.

drag · rotate scroll · zoom right-drag · pan click pin · catalogue entry

About this model

This is an interpretive 3D reconstruction of the Altar Stone (Stone 80) at Stonehenge, built from the records of Richard Atkinson’s 1958 excavation. The plan shape of the two pieces is traced from Atkinson’s excavation plan (published in Cleal, Walker & Montague 1995); the dimensions are his published figures of 16 ft × 3½ ft × 1¾ ft (Atkinson 1979); and the surface features — the broken zone with its stepped, flaggy fracture faces, the rounded undercut prow of the south-east end, the battered north-west end, the “FB” graffito, and the quartz vein with its adjacent incised marks — are placed from photographs in the Historic England Archive, examined by the author on 28 January 2025.

The red pins mark the camera stations of those photographs, located from the annotated plan. Select a pin to read its catalogue entry, then follow the link to the photograph below. The evidence-confidence view colours the surfaces by what the 1958 record actually covers: sage for faces photographed during the excavation, amber for the partially recorded fracture faces, and grey for the underside, beneath which Atkinson was unable to dig and which has never been recorded.

The model is schematic, not photogrammetric: it is a visual index to the archive, not a measured survey. Geometry and placement carry the uncertainties of working from record photography and a small published plan.

The photographs

The images below are streamed from the Historic England Archive under their embedding scheme and remain © Historic England; each links back to its source record, where rights information and high-resolution viewing are available.

P51196

The trench along the NE side: the break that divides the stone, with a displaced tabular fragment and smaller fragments along the fracture; Stone 55b overlying, lintel 156 at right.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P51908

The excavated Altar Stone looking south-west (companion to P51909).

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P51909

Looking south-west across the excavation: both fallen trilithon stones lie across the Altar Stone, its exposed surface a pale band emerging from beneath 55b.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P50361

The south-east end from the north-east, scale on the trench floor: the blunt rounded prow, undercut towards the base from a heavily rounded, weathered upper arris.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P50359

Vertical record shot of the south-east end: sub-rectangular in plan with rounded corners, weathered and shallowly pitted.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P50102

The south-east end from the south-west, down the slot between the stones: scale resting on the top, faint linear marks on the shadowed face below.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P50002

From the south — the definitive record of the graffito: two serifed capitals, read “FB” (Atkinson noted “IB”), c. 10 cm tall, on the SW side of the SE piece.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P50005

The SW side beneath 55b, lamp-lit at night: the face remarkably flat and even, with faint diagonal and sub-vertical scratches.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P50009

The SW side beneath 55b, companion exposure to P50005, showing the scratches.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P51808

From the north, down between the fallen sarsens: the top surface a pale smooth-worn plane — Atkinson’s abrasion by visitors’ feet.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P50107

Middle of the SW side: the quartz vein running the height of the face, with the cluster of thin incised strokes beside it.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P50106

Middle of the SW side, companion to P50107, engraved lines.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P50811

Vertical over the NW end from atop the fallen sarsen (the photographers’ boots in frame): a blunt, rounded, battered termination.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P51805

Raking view from beyond the NW end, under the overhanging sarsen: the end dark, strongly laminated, ragged and fissile.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P51874

Stone 55b suspended on a four-leg sling, swung clear: the Altar Stone’s flat top newly exposed beneath it.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P51873

The lifting of 55b, looking south-east; a timber block rests on the exposed top of the Altar Stone.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

P50371

Richard Atkinson supine beneath the suspended 55b, hand to its strikingly flat, dressed under-surface.

Archive record ↑ Back to the model

Sources & further reading

Daw, T. 2025. “The Archive Excavation of the Altar Stone — Updated.” Sarsen.org, 24 February 2025 — the study this model accompanies.
Atkinson, R.J.C. 1979. Stonehenge (revised edn). Penguin — dimensions and the appendix account of the 1958 excavation (pp. 56–7, 211–12).
Cleal, R.M.J., Walker, K.E. & Montague, R. 1995. Stonehenge in its Landscape: Twentieth-century Excavations. English Heritage — source of the excavation plan.
Clarke, A.J.I. et al. 2024. “A Scottish provenance for the Altar Stone of Stonehenge.” Nature 632, 570–575.
Bevins, R.E. et al. 2024. “Was the Stonehenge Altar Stone from Orkney?” Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 58, 104738.
Clarke, A.J.I. et al. 2026. “From Highlands to Henge: refining the provenance and transport pathways of Stonehenge’s Altar Stone.” Journal of Quaternary Science.
Historic England Archive — source of the 1958 photographs (examined under Permission No. 10238).

Model and text © Tim Daw, licensed CC BY 4.0. Photographs © Historic England Archive, streamed from the source records. Built with Three.js.