" The pursuit of archaeology is crucial as it defines our cultural roots. To understand where we are going it is vital to understand where we've come from and the school of British archaeologists should keep those sources and our belief in them alive. Sadly this top-down world of authoritarian men can only accept change at a very slow rate and retains mythic states far longer than is actually prudent or polite. Such is the case in the study of the origins of Stonehenge. As a site it was probably sacred - if that is an adequate term - for thousands of years before a single stone was set upright and the first temple was probably of earth and wood. This book is about the boulders that created the earliest stone circle on the Stonehenge site and shows that, contrary to received belief, these 'bluestones' were actually gathered from several sources locally, rather than being laboriously transported from Wales. This commonsense approach is shunned by academic archaeologists as it undermines their 'heavy duty' paradigm and their consequent projects' approval and funding.
Dr John's book, The Bluestone Enigma, tells the story of the bluestones in a straightforward and easily read style, which is well illustrated by colour photographs and line drawings. His description of the pitfalls in an experiment to move a single three tonne stone from Preseli, in South Wales, to the vicinity of Stonehenge, should be required study material for every British prehistorian. It's not unlikely that the ancients also recognised the common geology in both the Salisbury Plain bluestones and the Welsh bedrock but provided a legend of them being moved by giants, or fairies, to explain the transport by glacial drift. It is simply the remnant of that myth that is repeated by many eminent professionals today. Brian John demonstrates quite persuasively in this book that the facts no longer support that crazy hypothesis. This book is for everyone that wants to be ahead of the game and in the know. It will be ignored by stuffy archaeologists but should initiate a process of reappraising British early history. I recommend that everyone with an interest in the British stone monuments obtain two copies of this book - one for themselves, and one for a colleague. Just leave the stuffy academics to their fairy stories for now! "
As you'll gather, I’m not sure putting a case for glaciation ought to involve leaning over to demolish the human transport theory and it’s proponents. I don’t buy the idea that archaeologists are quaking in their boots in case human transport is disproved nor that there’s any evidence it is in the least unlikely.
The latest discovered Iron Age log boat (Hasholme) kind of speaks for itself. Personally, I find it incredibly hard not to think there was a heck of a good chance 2 or 3 bluestones could have been safely and easily towed from Wales in something like that and then hauled the last 3 miles by quite a small group. I base this on looking at that real boat and do so without fear of losing my university funding (I wish!) On the other hand, glaciation might be right. But there’s no evidence which is correct, only that both are plausible - is there? You've read the book so perhaps you can correct me.
