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Yeah Fitz, some interesting points there up for discussion. Anyone would think you had a lot of time on your hands to dream up these wanderings ;-)

RE Wooden standing stones - would these be like totem poles?

RE Lake district circles have no lake view - is it cos they is ploughed? The lower, more moist ground next to the lakes has probably undergone more changes than the areas above...?

RE Rockart pecking - interesting point about the unfinished style being possibly intentional.

I haven't forgotten about the tape, I'm just useless ;-)

.o0O0o.

Wooden standing stones - I don't see why not. Huge timbers were definitely used waaay back at Stonehenge (under the carpark actually) and at the palisaded henges. If there was some 'religious' (or whatever) significance then why shouldn't they have been carved or etched? distinguishing them from more practical defensive or animal-penning fences? Though seahenge isn't carved I suppose. I don't think you could carve a living tree without killing it though (unless you include the growing bark graffiti you see on beeches).

Paint is an interesting idea. Ok they didn't have cans of dulux. But there's evidence that colour was important at some sites (I have got some info on this but not yet written up) - well, Silbury hill's once-blazing whiteness for a start, but also the actual colours of some stones in stone circles. After all, think of those medieval churches you've been in, or the Roman statues you've seen that are apparently minimalist and plain - in fact they were brightly painted once. So with a few mineral and plant-based concoctions, why not on wood, or even stones?

Yeh like totem poles I suppose.
I was also thinking of them using maybe not just lovely poles but also gnarly lumps of wood. Seahenge being an example.

>>Woodern Standing Stones.

Don't forget Bleasedale Circle, The Lancashire Timber Henge

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/browse.php?site_id=1683

And of course Wood Henge itself.

It must of been easier to plan a circle using woodern posts than humping big lumps of stone around !!

Riv