sar·sen

(sär′sən′)

One of several large masses of silicified sandstone or conglomerate found on or near the ground surface in England and Brittany and believed to be the erosional remains of a sedimentary bed deposited during the Tertiary Period. These masses were used by Neolithic peoples as monoliths.

[Short for Sarsen stone, from Early Modern English Sarsen, variant of Saracen, Saracen, heathen, pagan (perhaps in reference to the use of sarsens in ancient monuments); see Saracen.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

sarsen

(ˈsɑːsən) or

sarsden

1. (Geological Science) geology a boulder of silicified sandstone, probably of Tertiary age, found in large numbers in S England

2. (Archaeology) such a stone used in a megalithic monument

Also called: greywether

[C17: probably a variant of Saracen]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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References in periodicals archive

The pristine-looking core of one of the giant sarsen stones may now help scientists pin down one of the mysteries of the site -- where the imposing hunks of sandstone came from.

Could core sample missing for 60 years hold answer to Stonehenge's secrets?

This is seen most spectacularly today in what archaeologists call the Sarsen Circle and Trilithon Horseshoe -- the big standing stone elements which were constructed so that the sun could be seen to rise and set between the stones on those particular days."

What we know about Stonehenge -- and what we don't

Constructed in several phases over a period of some 1500 years, beginning in 3000 BC, Stonehenge's key elements are its "bluestones," transported from West Wales by unexplained means, and its sarsen stones quarried from the nearby Marlborough Downs.

Stonehenge: The Story of a Sacred Landscape

(28) Sarsen Amanzholov, Opyt politiko-vospitatel'noi raboty v deistvuiushchei armii (UstKamenogorsk: Reklamnyi daidzhest, 2010), 25, 52.

Soldiers' letters to Inobatxon and O'g'ulxon: gender and nationality in the birth of a soviet romantic culture

Mewn rhaglen deledu ar BBC4 'Digging for Britain' rhyw fis yn ol, honwyd gan yr archaeolegwr Jim Leary o Brifysgol Reading fod cerrig sarsen ag olion llosgi arnynt wedi eu darganfod yng Nghor Marden.

Llosgi cerrig i gael gwrtaith; LLYTHYRAU

The very large standing stones at Stonehenge are made of sarsen, a local sandstone, but the smaller ones, known as 'bluestones', come from the Preseli hills in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

Stonehenge's origin pinpointed in Preseli; Archaeologists and geologists are excavating Welsh quarries to discover the origin of Stonehenge's bluestones, reports Martin Shipton

"Not only does this new evidence demonstrate a completely unexpected phase of monumental architecture at one of the greatest ceremonial sites in prehistoric Europe, the new stone row could well be contemporary with the famous Stonehenge sarsen circle or even earlier."

Prehistoric ritual arena discovered by city team; University of Birmingham archaeologists at heart of major new find near Stonehenge

Ninety stones, which may be sarsen sandstone like Stonehenge, have been found.

FOUND: GIANT STONEHENGE BURIED FOR 4,000 YEARS; Radar finds arena 1 mile from historic site