Inside the Neolithic mind

I was looking recently at Rodney Castleden's very readable and entertaining -- and wonderfully fanciful -- tome called "The Making of Stonehenge" -- and marvelling at his attempts to see into the minds of the builders of Stonehenge.  In one place in the book he suggests that the bluestones were stolen from West Wales as a deliberate act of aggression, designed by the powerful tribes of Wessex as a snub (or a demonstration of political power and technical expertise) to the lesser tribes of West Wales and Ireland.  Elsewhere he suggests that the stones might have been taken as a diplomatic gift from these poorer tribes to the ruling elite on Salisbury Plain.  Then again, he thinks that the stones might have been part of a process (over quite a long period of time) of diplomatic exchanges of "prestige" gifts.  Herbert Thomas and Richard Atkinson speculated on similar line many years ago -- indeed they both found quite attractive the idea that there was once a bluestone circle on the slopes of Preseli, made of locally derived stone monoliths,  which was for some reason dismantled carefully and shipped off across the Bristol Channel regardless of the physical challenges that there might have been.  More recently, MPP, MP, TD and GW have all speculated on these lines, referring occasionally to "tribute stones" or totems brought eastwards from West Wales as part of some ceremony involving ancestor worship.  I have blogged about this before.  I almost feel a novel coming on..........

To come down to earth with a bump, one needs to take a look at Steve Burrow's book called "The Tomb Builders" which concentrates on Neolithic Wales between 6000BP and 5,000BP.  This is exactly the period during which the bluestones at Stonehenge must have been shipped, if you are into that style of thinking.  In Chapter 4, on the availability of materials for the erection of megaliths and the building of tombs, he says: "There are no instances in Wales where it can be demonstrated that megaliths were carried great distances to build a tomb at a specific location."  Again:  "..... construction involving megaliths was usually carried out near the source of raw materials."  Again: "... tombs are located within easy reach of a supply of boulders or quarry stone that could be used to form their large covered cairns." Then finally, having examined the evidence from all of the megalithic monuments in wales, he concludes: "..... the evidence suggests that they (the tomb builders) were keen to minimise the amount of effort their enterprises involved without compromising the ambition of tomb building.  Fortunately, in a land as rich in stone as Wales, this still allowed them many opportunities to site tombs at locations that would add both drama and significance to their enterprises."

So our Neolithic ancestors were pragmatic, opportunistic, focussed on economy of effort, and adaptable as far as building materials were involved.  They were also scavengers in the sense that they collected and used stones wherever it was most convenient to do so.  Stone availability was a prime consideration in determining where tombs were built and where they were not.  So much for ley lines, astronomical observations, earth energies and sacred geometry.....

The strange thing is that Steve, having talked so much good sense about Neolithic megaliths, cannot find the courage to part company with his peers in the archaeology establishment.  He talks of the supposed transportation of the Preseli bluestones from Wales to Wiltshire for the building of Stonehenge as "the remarkable exception."  Ah, the conservatism of the academic mind, and the importance of peer group pressure!  I wonder what the archaeology establishment would have done to Steve if he had had the courage of his convictions and concluded:

"All of the evidence from Neolithic Wales suggests that the tribal groups of the time had neither the technical resources nor the desire to carry large numbers of stones from Pembrokeshire to Wiltshire.  If there are lessons to be learned from Wales, we have to conclude that the builders of Stonehenge used whatever large stones they could find in the immediate vicinity of the monument."