Bluestones | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

Stonehenge and its Environs 134

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The bluestone debate

Stoneshifter Nov 18, 2008 10:39:41

Replying to nigelswift

I used to use a mell hammer every day when I was walling. So it's like second nature to have one in my hand. My wrists have thickened with using one for twenty five years. Guitarists often have strong hands. I found a prehistoric hammerstone buried in the peat, near one of my carved stones, pointed end upward. The hammer's recorded on the Portable Objects register but what is interesting about it is to speculate on the strength of a person who might have used it on a daily basis. I know that I'm twice as strong as an average person - equivalent to one of those rugger buggers, perhaps - yet I'd estimate that the prehistoric chipper must have been twice as strong again, just to be able to wield that hammerstone effectively!

nigelswift Nov 18, 2008 11:02:54

Replying to Stoneshifter

I know that I'm twice as strong as an average person - equivalent to one of those rugger buggers, perhaps - yet I'd estimate that the prehistoric chipper must have been twice as strong again, just to be able to wield that hammerstone effectively!

I think you point out something crucial. Half a dozen farm workers can achieve far more than a whole load of urban types and keep at it all day. Yet most stonemoving re-enactments have involved the first type.
Add to that the fact you get gradually better and better at a job over the course of years and learn the absolutely most efficient way to do every bit of it. I reckon the efficiency of Gordon's two projects more than doubled between just the first time and the second, purely because minor adjustments were made, ones that no-one could have guessed on paper. Between Avebury and Stonehenge they'd have learned a lot more!

How long did it take you to become half decent at what you do?