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Myths, truths and theories - Stonehenge
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nigelswift
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Re: Myths, truths and theories - Stonehenge
Sep 08, 2010, 06:42
BuckyE wrote:
Absolutely we've lost many techniques that made pyramids and cyclopean masonry and so forth much less physical effort than we imagine was put into them.


I so agree with this. If you watch an old boy using a scythe or a shovel it's clear that 30 years of experience has taught him to do it just right, far better than the strongest, fittest townie. And if you watch someone hedge laying it's evident the same can be said of crafts that have been developed and refined over many generations.

Which is why I think we tend to be bedazzled by the idea of people pulling big stones in the old days. It was do-able, without great fuss. When you first try it it seems impossible, then you tweak what you're doing, and again and again. The first time the Stonehengineers (unfit townies) tried it they improved their efficiency every few minutes and on the second day they tripled it with some minor changes to the technique. Oh, and then we got a fit tug 'o war team on the job and the stone moved so fast it left scorch marks. Almost. ;)

Add to that a couple of years or generations of accrued experience and they could obviously do what seems magical to us, stuff we just don't have the time to replicate.
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