Re: The bluestone debate | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

Stonehenge and its Environs 134

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The bluestone debate

tiompan Dec 14, 2008 09:44:08

Replying to Littlestone

Littlestone wrote:

Choosing a site like Stonehenge had very likely nothing to do with the availability of stone.

That's an interesting observation Mr t.

Earlier in the year I sat for a while near the edge of Stonehenge and, while marvelling at its structure (just sit there for a while and look - it may not be big in modern terms but it is enormous by any other definition), couldn't help asking myself - why here? I can see why Avebury, and especially Silbury, may have been set where they are but Stonehenge? Forget for a moment the question of moving or not moving the bluestones from Preseli - what on earth was so special about this place that inspired the builders of Stonehenge to build there?

Dunno if you are talking specifically about Stonehenge or the general area . I reckon the latter may have a lot to do with it rather than the site itself . It had been cleared and the cursus (plural) and Robin Hoods Ball and some barrows are huge earlier monuments that indicate the general area was important before the building of the new "cemetery " in the suburbs .

mountainman Dec 14, 2008 10:33:51

Replying to tiompan

If this was a settled landscape with communities, farmed areas, ritual features, and even a few wooden henges scattered about there might have been quite a few options for the siting of this ambitious thing we now call Stonehenge. I wonder how many wooden henges there were in the general area?

Surely there must have been a very long gap between Mesolithic settings and the Neolithic ones -- 2,000 - 3,000 years at least?

A scatter of available big stones in the neighbourhood may have been what decided the locals to try something made out of stone. The site itself is pretty innocuous -- that has struck me every time I've been there -- no summit, no vast vistas, just a gentle slope on a rolling piece of downland...

moss Dec 14, 2008 10:37:40

Replying to tiompan

No matter how one tries to work it out whether the bluestones were already on Salisbury plain through glaciation (though there is no evidence of this) or that they came from Carn Meyn, there is tantalising evidence in the fact that two strong tidal reaches are caught up in the puzzle, and transportation by boat can be seen as a possibility. Milford Haven with the East Cleddau emptying into it and the Severn Estuary with evidence of bronze age boats at Caldicot and Goldcliff.
If Stonehenge is an ancient sacred central meeting place with the dead being brought to be buried, bringing stones from a long distance is seen to be possible. Given that you can see the sea from up on Carn Meyn, what about an ancient prehistoric track coming over from Ireland with traders who saw the 'potential' of the rather beautiful bluestone.....