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Ball bearings used to build Stonehenge

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nigelswift N
nigelswift Nov 18, 2010 20:00:56
Replying to moss

"Attempts to re-enact transporting the blocks on wooden rollers or floating them on the sea have not proved convincing."

Sounds like they're talking about the Millenium Project. They weren't at Foamhenge evidently.

"The true test was when a colleague used his index finger to move me forward - a mere push and the slabs and I shot forward."

Bit of an exaggeration I reckon. You can't move a car like that. Unless it was on a slope. ;)

"The demonstration indicated that big stones could have been moved using this ball bearing system with roughly 10 oxen"

Well that's just cheating! Ten oxen could drag a blue stone if two were pulling the other way.....

G goffik
goffik Nov 18, 2010 20:34:12
Replying to nigelswift

I don't buy it, either, but it's always interesting to hear new theories, innit? :)

I seem to remember a phrase that kept cropping up during the Stonehengineers experiments, which was "any means necessary". The builders would use whatever method was most appropriate in each case, and would most likely use a combination of many different methods to get the stones moved. So why not bearings? If only for a short distance, or even for positioning stones?

Margaret Curtis, up in Callanish, has a series of apparatus in her garden which demonstrate several different methods of moving heavy objects. Well worth seeing. No bearings there. Mostly a-frames and ropes, as I recall. All equally feasible over varying terrain...

I'm intrigued by these "cricket-ball sized stone balls" found near Stonehenge!

G x