New stone moving theory

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nigelswift N
nigelswift Apr 2, 2006 10:05:16
Replying to GordonP

"Unless you are prepared to accept the proven scientific fact that hard work makes you tired, and that very hard work makes you tired very quickly I see no point in wasting my time replying further."

Gordon. that's an inarguable scientific fact, of course, but it also has a further implication - easy work makes you tired very slowly.

At Foamhenge it was obvious that hard work makes you tired very quickly, but that cannot be taken as proof that dragging was an ineffective method, merely that the number of pullers was at the lower limit of viability for the method. Had their been two or three times as many then the work would have been easy and they could have done it all day, surely? If you say, no, there are reasons why it would still have been hard then I would keep adding to the numbers until it wasn't...

N nigelswift
nigelswift Apr 2, 2006 11:22:41
Replying to nigelswift

This sounds like I'm rejecting stonerowing in favour of dragging, but I'm not. It's simply that, having observed the mechanical realities of both methods at your two demonstrations I can't say there are grounds for favouring one to the exclusion of the other. If you have enough people, dragging is simpler, quicker and yes, less tiring - and probably doesn't even need rollers in many contexts. But if you have few people or difficult terrain then stonerowing, if they thought of it, would be viable.

My guess is that they would have thought of it and used it sometimes, both in it's own right and as part of a hybrid "dragging and levering" method to get over periodic difficult sections. To me, it seems rather likely that people who were dragging a big stone along would have others walking alongside with levers and the advantage of those would become obvious.

G GordonP
GordonP Apr 2, 2006 11:49:14
Replying to nigelswift

Hi Nigel
Of course I accept the fact that dragging becomes easier as the size of the workforce increases.

The question is: What size of workforce did the Neolithic people who built Stonehenge have available?

The population of the whole of Britain at that time is estimated to have been in the region of perhaps 300,000. Furthermore these people were spread thinly from Lands End to John O Groats and beyond. The only form of transport was walking.

In the international version of Foamhenge the production company included some footage of the natives on the island of West Sumba in Indonesia dragging a large stone. (Perhaps 15 to 20 tons)We were informed that 600 people took part. During the whole of one day this stone was dragged just 100 yards. Watching the piece of film they seemed to be moving this stone at quite a pace, almost running. Yet at the end of the day they had succeeded in moving it only 100 yards.

Until someone demonstrates that a forty-ton stone can be dragged for a credible distance using a workforce estimated to have been available to the builders of Stonehenge. I will continue my research. And by demonstrate I don't mean dragging a stone for twenty minutes and then multiplying distance covered by the time available.