GordonP
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Re: The bluestone debate
Jun 15, 2006, 19:50
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They rolled down the Prisli mountains on rollers, walked up any inclines on levers, were loaded onto real wooden boats at the coast, floated down the coast and eventually up the Avon to as close as they could get to Stonehenge, where they walked on levers uphill and rolled on rollers downhill till they arrived.
See; www.stonehengetheanswer.com
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Littlestone
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Re: The bluestone debate
Jun 15, 2006, 21:44
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>See; www.stonehengetheanswer.com<
Just finished reading that Gordon - very impressive.
Two things struck me. Firstly, that you've convincingly demonstrated that it would have been possible to move the bluestones in the way that you describe (and presumably it would have been even quicker and easier for the people who actually did move them because they would have had centuries of experience on which to draw).
Secondly (and apologies if this has been covered elsewhere), is that moving big stones (bluestones or otherwise) would presumably have been done when the ground was hard - in other words during the colder months when the crops were in and there wasn't much else to do. That being the case (moving the stones in winter), would people not also have taken advantage of ice and snow to slide or 'sleigh' the stones - if not all of the way then perhaps along some sections of the route?
It kinda brings me back to the above suggestion that transporting the stones might not have been an 'either or' situation but a combination of various factors - just a thought.
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GordonP
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Re: The bluestone debate
Jun 16, 2006, 07:23
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Yes, using ice or snow may have been part of the answer if the stones were moved in winter although only on downhill sections.
How cold were the winters 4000 years ago?
I believe when the Romans arrived 2000 years ago the climate was warmer than it is now, although I might be wrong on that.
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Littlestone
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Re: The bluestone debate
Jun 16, 2006, 21:36
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I believe when the Romans arrived 2000 years ago the climate was warmer than it is now...
As warm, if not warmer (there were Roman vineyards in the south for example).
Something else that's maybe worth considering... today we have the notion of schedules, getting things done in one go and on time (well sort of :-), but perhaps when the big stones were moved people were more in tune with the right conditions. Maybe one year, or one season, was good and things were moved so far until conditions were good again. Maybe the stones sat midway for a season, or a year or two, before conditions were optimum again for moving them.
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Littlestone
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Re: The bluestone debate
Jun 16, 2006, 21:50
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Truth is though, one of the world's most widely known scientific facts is that "Druids brought Stonehenge from Wales"...
Rediscovered this in Burl's Great Stone Circles and thought you might like to see it again :-)
I will not forget, the stones that are set
In a round, on Salisbury plaines,
Though who put 'em there, 'tis hard to declare,
The Romans, or Merlin or Danes.*
* Walter Pope, 1676.
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Cursuswalker
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Re: The bluestone debate
Jun 17, 2006, 08:41
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'Ere! I ressemble that remark! I brought one over meself not two weeks ago.
Played merry havoc woth the Astra's suspension so it did...
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Cursuswalker
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Re: The bluestone debate
Jun 17, 2006, 08:43
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All lies!
My Astra has neither levers nor rollers! Just a very knackered roofrack...
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Cursuswalker
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Re: The bluestone debate
Jun 17, 2006, 13:16
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'Ere I ressemble that remark as well!
You'll be saying that we used to have swastikas on our robes next...
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Cursuswalker
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Re: The bluestone debate
Jun 17, 2006, 13:18
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Where are these deposits? Or did the Bronze Agers take them all from there to Stonehenge?
Where in England has Preseli Bluestone been found in the wild?
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Littlestone
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Re: The bluestone debate
Jun 17, 2006, 15:51
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Where are these deposits? Or did the Bronze Agers take them all from there to Stonehenge?
I dunno Cursuswalker - maybe there are/were deposits, maybe there aren't/weren't :-) Maybe there were so few of the bluestones in these (possible) deposits that they were indeed highly valued and all taken away. Then again, maybe you're right and they were all brought from Preseli (which incidentally is what I also believe but don't have the necessary knowledge to back up that belief).
Maybe, as I suggested above, it's a combination of transportation factors. At this stage no-one seems to be able to actually prove anything one way or the other - which always makes for good debate ;-)
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