Tribute stones and petrified ancestors | Forum

mountainman Oct 9, 2009 12:33:31

With the new Ixer / Bevins paper now out, and all sorts of other things happening this week, time to revisit this issue? In my view the Ixer / Bevins findings are simply confirmation that the bluestones are glacial erratics from all over the place -- but the senior archaeologists whom we so dearly love will no doubt already be adjusting to the fact that there wasn't a single bluestone quarry. Lots of bluestone quarries, they will say. And they will be honing their arguments to the effect that the bluestones are tribute stones or petrified ancestors. Hmmm.....

For what it's worth, here's a contribution to this debate:

http://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2009/10/bluestones-tribute-stones-petrified.html

Branwen Oct 9, 2009 19:37:02

Replying to mountainman

What does time team say? ::ducks::

nigelswift Oct 9, 2009 19:41:23

Replying to mountainman

I guess it will become a matter of fact whether bluestones from Snowdonia, the Llyn Peninsula and Anglesey are in Wilts or not. But I'm not sure it would move us further towards glaciation being the agency of transport as you have suggested. Rather, it seems to move us nearer to a consensus between archaeologists and geologists that there may have been a "third way" i.e. human transport but by many groups. Suddenly we have two geologists saying yes, people did it and the archaeologists are right.

The burden of proof moves decidely away from the third way parties to the glaciation party. The third way parties now have a viable theory for how every bit of bluestone arrived. The glaciation party has to explain how glaciers brought bluestones from Snowdonia, the Llyn Peninsula and Anglesey but NOT vast quantities of granite as well.