The Cove forum 1 room
Image by thesweetcheat
The Cove

The monster stone

close
more_vert
Sanctuary S
Sanctuary Dec 8, 2010 18:25:00
Replying to Littlestone

Littlestone wrote:
More than 7 years since this appeared in the Salisbury Journal but it may be of interest. The last lines read, “The recovery of preserved organic material from soil samples during the excavations will enable radiocarbon dates to be taken. For the first time the Cove will be able to be dated by modern methods.”

Wonder if those findings were ever published...

Yes I'd read that somewhere as well LS but have never seen anything published regarding RC dates. The article I read stated that the leaning stone was 10ft below ground which I thought quite staggering at the time and wondered how on earth anything that deep in packed chalk would move at all.

L Littlestone
Littlestone Dec 8, 2010 18:48:46
Replying to Sanctuary

Aye.

Averaging it out though it looks, roughly, like two thirds of the stone is above ground, so it’s not really that stable. Factor in vibration from the road, cheek-by-jowl buildings (and a cellar?) not to mention the ‘Cove’ garage and the plonkers who climbed (and continue to climb) the stones and there’s a tilt just waiting to happen.

But this is about the, “The recovery of preserved organic material from soil samples during the excavations will enable radiocarbon dates to be taken. For the first time the Cove will be able to be dated by modern methods.”