h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

'I've discovered that you can transport big rocks using tree-trunk rollers after all'.

Well, all I can say is that when the team of BBXC archaeologists tried to simulate it, the weight of the stone crushed the rollers.

... although there may be (there would be!) a difference between the bluestones and the sarsens - it was the sarsens that were too heavy for tree trunk rollers.

I've also modified what I said about the Golden Road in my Pembrokeshire Entry, to remove the confusion.

Here is a reference to various carvings on the stones. It also mentions a human head carving which I was unaware of.

The axe and dagger carvings were discovered in 1953 according to my HMSO booklet, but it gives no further details.

Oops

http://www.stonehenge-avebury.net/stnhngecarv.html

A bit more info on the dagger carvings to show that they're of a type common about 1800 years ago, ie more recent than the stones themselves.

http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/press/stonehenge_lasers.html

...from 1800BC - I got distracted by Mrs BA trying to put grandson to bed.

One has to be very skeptical when examining claims about Stonehenge:

1. a picture of a face has been discovered on one stone - it doesn't look like a face to me. Even if it did, it wouldn't prove it was one, as people are very good at seeing faces when they're not there.

2. carvings of bronze axes - how did they know they were bronze axes and not iron axes?

Agree with you about the face - although it does look a little more convincing on the BBC site:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/474977.stm

'carvings of bronze axes - how did they know they were bronze axes and not iron axes?'

Dunno, unless they have real artifacrtts to compare them with. Perhaps the iron axe artifacts we have are different in shape to the bronze axes we have

Here is the British Archaeology report on the axe carvings,which gives a lot more detail

http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba73/feat1.shtml

The BBC report about the face quotes the discoverer as saying "The type of stone, Sarsen, is the hardest stone know to man". I didn't know that!

Well, I think that is a bit of hyperbole. It was Terence Meaden (of 'crop circle' fame) who said this. I never really know how seriously to take him. Elsewhere I have read that 'sarsen is a bvery hard sandstone, but I've been unable to find data on its hardness as yet

PS In trying to find data on the hardness of sarsen stone I found this site which includes info comparing the different means of transporting the stones:

http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/gem-projects/hm/Stonehenge.pdf

I've find a good quote about Stonehenge from Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles:

"They had proceeded thus gropingly two or three miles further when
on a sudden Clare became conscious of some vast erection close in
his front, rising sheer from the grass."



I don't think I'll use it.

BigAl, that gem-projects document is a mixture of fact and fiction, so I wouldn't place too much credence in it. For example, it mentions the Aubrey Holes, describing them as "ditches" - they're not, they're holes. It says they were never filled in - they were; almost immediately after they were dug, they were filled in and packed with chalk. It says that traces of what might have been wood were found in them but other sources say that no traces of wood were ever found in them.

I'd rather not read any further, as I don't want to confuse myself with mis-information.

Is it? Tell you the truth, I didn't read it at all. Just skimmed it looking for info on sarsen hardness, and my eye fell on the bit about stone transportation.

Any further comments on this entry? Is everybody happy with it?

Ref:

'Leading away from the gap in the bank is a straight path heading northeast. On either side of this path, known as 'the Avenue' are a bank and ditch. It originally would have gone off into the distance but now it is cut short almost immediately by a modern road, the A344, which passes very close to Stonehenge'.

I think it's worth saying that this leads (indirectly) to the bank of the River Avon at West Amesbury. It provided a formal approach to the monument, and (being built in Phase II) probably marked the route by which the bluestones were hauled up from the river.

The formal approach to the monument is important as it relates to the fnction of Stonehenge as a major funereal site (see my Entry on Durrington Walls at A7379265