How much do we know about Stonehenge? Less than we think. And what has Stonehenge got to do with the Ice Age? More than we might think. This blog is mostly devoted to the problems of where the Stonehenge bluestones came from, and how they got from their source areas to the monument. Now and then I will muse on related Stonehenge topics which have an Ice Age dimension...
THE BOOK
Some of the ideas discussed in this blog are published in my new book called "The Stonehenge Bluestones" -- available by post and through good bookshops everywhere. Bad bookshops might not have it....
To order, click HERE
Some of the ideas discussed in this blog are published in my new book called "The Stonehenge Bluestones" -- available by post and through good bookshops everywhere. Bad bookshops might not have it....
To order, click HERE
Saturday 16 April 2016
Striated erratics from Tresco, Isles of Scilly
The northern tip of the island of Tresco lies just within the limit of the Devensian glaciation of the British Isles. Much of the plateau to the north of Cromwell’s Castle is littered with erratics and thin patches of till, which means that glacier ice must have affected the land surface at least 40m above present sea level. Most of the erratics are small pebbles and cobbles, up to about 20 cms in length. Some of these show clear striations. Illustrated: above: one coarse reddish pink sandstone pebble; below: one cobble of dark red sandstone with thin quartz veins, and one whitish coarse sandstone cobble. Sources unknown.
Erratics and patches of till occur even further to the south in the strait between Bryher and Tresco, suggesting that a lobe of ice occupied the low land between the hills (Tregarthen Hill and Castle Down to the east and Shipman Head Down to the west) on either side.
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