The Erratic Bluestone Circle

With grateful thanks to "The Stones of Stonehenge" blog site, the bluestones from the bluestone circle pictured above are (from the top) stones 31, 34, 35a, 39, 45 and 47

I've been having a good look at the splendid photos featured on "The Stones of Stonehenge" site, and had forgotten what a grubby and random collection of stones of all shapes and sizes they actually are.  Most of them are so heavily worn on their edges that they would not be out of place in a modern moraine close to a glacier snout.  The idea that they might have been quarried from a Neolithic quarry by our heroic ancestors is totally ludicrous.  We are looking at the traces of severe wear by natural processes -- either in a fluvio-glacial environment or ((much more likely) in a glacial one.

This is a collection of glacial erratics, or I will eat my hat.  From an examination of Simon's photos, here are my brief notes.  Any other observations would be welcome.

Nineteen stones in the Bluestone Circle:

31 -- damaged and heavily worn slab.  Standing.  Recent damage close to ground level
32 -- heavily worn slightly elongated boulder.  Fallen -- resting on another stone
33 -- well worn short and stumpy pillar.  Standing.  Signs of shaping -- meant as a lintel?
34 -- well rounded small boulder, placed on end
35 a and 35 b -- irregular and well worn boulder, embedded in the ground and only just visible
36 -- an irregular and heavily worn boulder, slightly elongated.  Modern damage on one edge.  Recumbent
37 -- smallish well-rounded boulder, slightly slab-shaped and set on end
38 --  smallish irregular boulder, well worn, fallen and under another stone
39 -- another smallish boulder, well worn, slightly slab-shaped, with some later damage.  Leaning, almost recumbent
40g -- below ground stump -- irregular shape
41 --  recumbent elongated boulder with heavy wear -- very well rounded edges
42 -- recumbent wedge-shaped stone with heavy wear on edges
43 -- recumbent slightly flattened boulder with heavy wear on edges
44 -- heavily worn boulder just visible in the turf -- recumbent
45 -- recumbent elongated boulder with heavy wear on edges
46 -- slightly slab-shaped boulder set on edge.  Flaky -- considerable recent surface damage
47 -- slab with heavy wear on edges -- set on end
48 -- small recumbent boulder with heavy wear --  just projecting through the turf
49 -- small irregular slab with quite sharp edges.  Upright.  Signs of dressing? Intended as a lintel?

And here's another thought.  If the archaeologists insist that Stonehenge was carefully planned, with  dolerites brought in for the bluestone horseshoe and everything else destined for the bluestone circle, the famous "proto-orthostat" lying on the ground at Rhosyfelin would be a complete anomaly.  With its sharp edges (typical of a rockfall slab) it is far larger than any of the other bluestone circle stones and completely different in its physical characteristics.  I am more convinced than ever that NONE of the Stonehenge bluestones was quarried from the solid rock -- in Pembrokeshire or anywhere else.  The stones at Stonehenge were already very ancient -- and heavily worn -- well before they were gathered up and built into the monument.  Some of them (especially those in the horseshoe) were of course damaged or dressed either before or after arrival at the site, but most of those in the bluestone circle appear to be largely in their natural state.

Just take one look at the Rhosyfelin stone, and compare it with the above photos (or any of the others on Simon's blog) and you will have to agree that the archaeologists are wasting everybody's time with all this quarrying nonsense.