Stonehenge 181
Image by Chris
Stonehenge

Stone shifting 5

nigelswift N
nigelswift Sep 17, 2003 23:52:50
Replying to Steve Gray

Steve, I've already replied to Gordon that his questioning of whether they talked of a ramp was merely because they expected one was perfectly fair. I don't know the answer, which is why I suggested we do nothing about it except on advice from an expert.
I do think it would be high-risk to ignore it though. For all we know, it's accepted wisdom. The BBC may have selected that method for a reason. We need to know. As Gordon said a while ago we must go with the evidence.
It's not a question of nicely done. I certainly don't feel raising a stone high up feels right, having stood by an Avebury stone and imagined it, but it must be obvious that my main drive all along has been to do precisely what the evidence suggested, whatever it was, not spin it in any particular direction.

N nigelswift
nigelswift Sep 18, 2003 00:19:37
Replying to nigelswift

I should have added, although you refer to it as slight evidence, it is in fact the only evidence of any kind that we've found on the issue so it deserves lots of consideration. The fact that I suggested we get expert corroboration of it TWICE is not a sign of me using it to justify a line, as the government illustrates!

S Steve Gray
Steve Gray Sep 18, 2003 00:21:00
Replying to nigelswift

You have to accept that they raised the lintels to a height of 24 feet in order to put them ontop of the uprights. That requires either an enormous ramp or a wooden crib. If they used a ramp for the lintels then it's reasonable to suppose that they would have used them for the uprights too. But if they used a crib for the lintels then why should they not have used them for the uprights?

In order to use a ramp for stone rowing, it either needs to be over 40 feet wide, or you must build three ramps (one for the stone and one for each line of rowers).

I think if the evidence categorically says that ramps were used, then we should quietly forget about raising a trilithon and just stick to moving stones around. However, from what I have seen so far, it seems that a bit of compacted chalk in a hole is being extrapolated into a whole ramp theory.

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