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Littlestone L
Littlestone Jan 4, 2007 13:14:45
Replying to slumpystones

I am still trying to work out where 500 people are going to stand with their ropes and stuff on all that slippery chalk!!
Wally, on the Stones Mailing List, had an excellent 3D model of the spiral path that may have once existed on Silbury; have just checked but the page has been taken down. Wally does supply some dimension though which may be of interest -

"For those that are interested, I've had a go at modelling a 'processional path' around Silbury Hill. The following 3D model shows what I've drawn, and can be wiggled about with mouse or keyboard... JPG jockeys will not be able to rotate the thing in 3D space, of course. Anyway, the model is based on the following dimensions...

Hill...
Diameter of base: 160m
Height: 36m
Diameter of top 45m
Slope of hillside: 32 degrees

Pathway...
Number of times round the hill: 6
Slope of 'vertical' inner walls of path: 60 degrees
Width of path: 6m
Height difference from one 'tier' to the next: 6m

Which yields the following particulars...

Angle of pathway: 0.78587523 degrees
Length of pathway at outer edge: 1931m

So, a very gentle slope to climb, but about 2km of walking to get there. How
fast is 'procession speed'? :-)

Wally"

S slumpystones
slumpystones Jan 4, 2007 14:51:08
Replying to Littlestone

Littlestone wrote:
I am still trying to work out where 500 people are going to stand with their ropes and stuff on all that slippery chalk!!
Hill...
Diameter of base: 160m
Height: 36m
Diameter of top 45m
Slope of hillside: 32 degrees

Pathway...
Number of times round the hill: 6
Slope of 'vertical' inner walls of path: 60 degrees
Width of path: 6m
Height difference from one 'tier' to the next: 6m

Which yields the following particulars...

Angle of pathway: 0.78587523 degrees
Length of pathway at outer edge: 1931m

So, a very gentle slope to climb, but about 2km of walking to get there. How
fast is 'procession speed'? :-)

Wally"

I would not dispute any of the measurements, except that the winding path itself would have to be levelled to ensure the erosion of a few hundred feet on unstable man-made chalk didn't result in an outward-sloping path, meaning the stones could slide straight back down again. Also, could there possibly be anything close to a 6m wide path ? Is it physically possible for it to exist on the current plan ? 6 rotations, 6m on each side...

36m of path on each side = 72m
Flat top of monument = 45m

So take away the pathway and the top, and you are left with 50m-ish in width to cover the slope of the outer walls from bottom to top, which doesn't add up in my head...might be time to sit down with a protractor and a compass...weapons of maths instruction indeed....