Re: The bluestone debate | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

Stonehenge and its Environs 134

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The bluestone debate

nigelswift Nov 17, 2008 09:44:26

Replying to mountainman

Over-defending one's own theory is a universal human failing but pointing out where it happens doesn't get us one inch closer to knowing how the bluestones got to Stonehenge. On the balance of what's known so far one might say glaciers probably brought them to Somerset and people then brought them to Wiltshire - but that's still a guess and may yet be shown to be entirely wrong.

mountainman Nov 17, 2008 10:22:25

Replying to nigelswift

nigelswift wrote:

On the balance of what's known so far one might say glaciers probably brought them to Somerset and people then brought them to Wiltshire - but that's still a guess and may yet be shown to be entirely wrong.

I'd agree with that. That scenario does at least have the benefit of some field evidence -- undisputed as far as I know, except by Wainwright! - to support it.
The really interesting questions now are these: where exactly was the ice limit? and in what form was the erratic assemblage dumped -- in a train, or a fan, or in a morainic ridge along the ice front?

There are other questions about the age of the deposits, and the manner in which they have been eroded and buried (for example in Somerset) by more recent sediments.