Stonehenge and its Environs 134
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"You igore the fact that dragging a 12 ton stone is expotentially much simpler than dragging a 30 or 45 tonner."

I'm not ignoring it I'm saying it's essentially not true.

I don't think anyone has yet hitched a team of 1000 or 2000 fit tug 'o war guys to a 45 ton stone. A healthy human can produce about 1.2 horse power briefly and trained athletes can manage up to about 0.3 horsepower for a period of several hours. That's many hundreds of horses.

nigelswift wrote:
"You igore the fact that dragging a 12 ton stone is expotentially much simpler than dragging a 30 or 45 tonner."

I'm not ignoring it I'm saying it's essentially not true.

The use of the term "exponentially" certainly has no mathematical basis. The frictional forces are linearly proportional to the weight, so the force required to move the stone is similarly linear.

I suspect that Gordon is applying a subjective judgment, based on a reluctance to accept what was clearly evident to the rest of us at Foamhenge and this is that dragging was hugely more effective than stone-rowing.

My recollection of the accident at the Foamhenge project was that when Simon got stuck under the stone it was because he was feeding rollers under the front of the stone when he fell. The pullers continued to drag the stone along the grass for about 70% of its length before they were alerted to the problem.

A further thought, if you have enough "bods" you can use relay teams to give periodic rests.

And where would you find such a team in the immiediate area of Stonehenge 4000 years ago?