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The Blue Stone Enigma

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nigelswift N
nigelswift Jul 3, 2009 07:34:28
Replying to Pilgrim

"and finally got to see those interesting "alternative" slopes; very strange - I'm no geologist, but I can't see any event that would cause those sort of effects"

Spooky aren't they? And spookily well placed, if natural, for anyone that happened to want to haul a 40 ton stone along that very route.

What with that and your "lesser slope a mile or so eastward of Redhorn Hill" it makes the "couldn't be done because of Redhorn Hill" speculations look groundless.

There's a strange synchronicity about the sarsen and bluestone routes. In both cases some have suggested they must have already have been close by (through glaciation) as human transport would be so impossibly difficult. I dunno if they were but I don't see human transport was impossibly difficult in either case.

And there's another startling illogicality. Some who say the bluestones couldn't have been brought by people nevertheless accept the sarsens could have been. But if the sarsens were hauled, that implies the bluestones were a piece of cake - one eighth of the weight and no Redhorn Hill.

I think if you multiply land distance x total weight the two feats are pretty similar. But in terms of the practicalities, bringing the sarsens twenty miles was far more impressive. Yet the internet is full of how wondrous it is that the bluestones came from Wales and there's far less about the real miraculous achievement. It's not fair. The real heroes aren't getting the credit they're owed. ;)

L Littlestone
Littlestone Jul 3, 2009 09:54:40
Replying to nigelswift

I think if you multiply land distance x total weight the two feats are pretty similar. But in terms of the practicalities, bringing the sarsens twenty miles was far more impressive. Yet the internet is full of how wondrous it is that the bluestones came from Wales and there's far less about the real miraculous achievement. It's not fair. The real heroes aren't getting the credit they're owed. ;)
"Bringing the sarsens twenty miles was far more impressive."

Quite. Logic dictates that if, (given similar terrain) you are be able to move x number of large stones over x distance, you would be equally able to move a number of smaller stones over a longer distance. The time it takes and the manpower needed might vary but ancient builders weren't tied into construction contracts but (more likely) into seasonal dictates.

We'll probably crack the conundrum of 'how' and 'from where' eventually. Having lost the box with the instructions years ago however it's still fun to speculate - "Whichever way you turn are doors. Choose." :-)

A game of Henge, my masters?
The pieces are set. We lost the box
with instructions years ago.
Do you see Hangman? Or
Clock Patience? Building bricks
the gods grew out of? Dominoes?
It's your move. You're in the ring
of the hills, of the stones, of the walls
of your skull. You want to go?
You want out? Good - that's
the game. Whichever way you turn
are doors. Choose. Step through, so...
And whichever world you stumble into
will be different from all the others, only
what they might have been,
you'll never know.


Philip Goss

G GordonP
GordonP Jul 3, 2009 17:47:26
Replying to nigelswift

nigelswift wrote:
"But in terms of the practicalities, bringing the sarsens twenty miles was far more impressive. Yet the internet is full of how wondrous it is that the bluestones came from Wales and there's far less about the real miraculous achievement. It's not fair. The real heroes aren't getting the credit they're owed. ;)
Could not agree more.