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
Sunday, 9 April 2017
Holocene sea-level rise around the British Isles
Somebody put this map on Facebook -- a nice illustration of the post-glacial eustatic rise in sea level around the shores of the British Isles.
Hello Brian ! Bruno from Brazil here. I came here for I was amused with how Neolithic people were able to build similar megalithic structures eighter in the British, Scottish, Welsh and Irish mainlands and in the Orkney and Hebrides, since they date back to 4000-3000 BCE, while the land separation happened somewhere between 16.000-8.000 BCE. At first, at the beggining of the land separation, people would just cross a little river. Through time, they would have to cross a strong channel by boat... At some point they would remain separate and connected by just some old stories, and eventually some very experienced navigators would cross the strait to hopefully return and tell great stories ! Maybe it is a long discussed theme in the region's archaeology, but, anyway, my point is: how cwere these people able to create such similar works even when sepparate by at least 4000 years (8000-4000 years) ?? It is really outstanding. Does your book touch that subject ? I'd really like to have a glimpse on that. Kindly, Bruno
Yes, that is an interesting question. The assumption is that there was at least some boat travel across the North Sea during the Neolithic, and that the travellers must have carried with them the knowledge of certain burial practices and methods of using big stones -- for example to make dolmens or cromlechs. What interests me even more is that this style of building was not even restricted to western Europe -- it seems to have been very similar in many other parts of the world.
2 comments:
Hello Brian !
Bruno from Brazil here.
I came here for I was amused with how Neolithic people were able to build similar megalithic structures eighter in the British, Scottish, Welsh and Irish mainlands and in the Orkney and Hebrides, since they date back to 4000-3000 BCE, while the land separation happened somewhere between 16.000-8.000 BCE.
At first, at the beggining of the land separation, people would just cross a little river. Through time, they would have to cross a strong channel by boat... At some point they would remain separate and connected by just some old stories, and eventually some very experienced navigators would cross the strait to hopefully return and tell great stories !
Maybe it is a long discussed theme in the region's archaeology, but, anyway, my point is: how cwere these people able to create such similar works even when sepparate by at least 4000 years (8000-4000 years) ??
It is really outstanding.
Does your book touch that subject ?
I'd really like to have a glimpse on that.
Kindly,
Bruno
Hello Bruno
Yes, that is an interesting question. The assumption is that there was at least some boat travel across the North Sea during the Neolithic, and that the travellers must have carried with them the knowledge of certain burial practices and methods of using big stones -- for example to make dolmens or cromlechs. What interests me even more is that this style of building was not even restricted to western Europe -- it seems to have been very similar in many other parts of the world.
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