Amid many mysteries about Stone of Destiny, here's a head-turning fact
There’s something not quite right about the Stone of Destiny, aka the Stone of Scone, from a geological perspective
The best legend about the Stone of Destiny is surely the claim it was used as a pillow by the Biblical Jacob, before travelling through the mists of time to Scotland. To doubters who point out the sandstone is typical of that found in the Perthshire area, where’s your sense of mystery and wonder?
Now Professor Sally Foster has been unravelling another mystery – the fate of fragments broken off when the stone was dropped by nationalist students as they stole it from Westminster Abbey in 1951. Turns out one found its way to the late Alex Salmond, another travelled Australia, and a third was given to Canadian newspaper editor Dick Sanburn who proudly mounted it behind his desk.
What few of these people may have known is that this sacred and ancient relic is actually upside down, according to geologists. The smooth top was the base of a sandstone bed which formed in “an ancient Devonian river that once flowed across central Scotland”.
So next time you pop into Perth Museum for a visit, you may wish to tilt your head to see the stone as God, or nature, intended.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.