From the Stonehenge facebook page:
Today, English Heritage Senior Properties Curator, Win Scutt joined part of a 230-mile walk of one possible route for the transport of bluestones from the Preseli Hills to Stonehenge.
Today, English Heritage Senior Properties Curator, Win Scutt joined part of a 230-mile walk of one possible route for the transport of bluestones from the Preseli Hills to Stonehenge.
The Stonehenge bluestones made an epic journey to get here and how they were transported from Wales during the Neolithic period remains one of the greatest mysteries.
Professor Keith Ray designed the long-distance route and is walking its length on consecutive days, to explore the landscape through the eyes of Neolithic people and visualise how the land may have looked over 5,000 years ago. Those taking part in the experimental walk have reflected on the choices and challenges which the stone-carriers may have faced if they had travelled along the same route.
It’s thought that this is the first time that the journey has been made on foot in modern times.
It’s thought that this is the first time that the journey has been made on foot in modern times.
From the BBC report:
"I would say Neolithic people were very aware of significant communities and that's how they organized it so that they could follow a route linking with particular communities."
Heather Sebire, senior properties curator at English Heritage said: "We've never known exactly how the stones were brought from so many miles away to this ancient landscape 5,000 years ago.
"Professor Ray's endeavours will help keep the discussion around this fresh in the minds of archaeologists and the public.
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The Millennium Stone pull in the year 2000. A shambles, even with abundant manpower, asphalt roads, modern ropes, low friction netting, heavy lift cranes and standby JCBs.......... How much more evidence do you need before you get the message that the whole idea of overland monolith transport was and is ludicrous?
So what about the Millennium Stone fiasco? To this day, that is the only serious piece of experimental archaeology ever done that took die account of terrain, weather, available technology etc. Conveniently forgotten by the Stonehenge management......
Well, I hope that Prof Ray enjoyed the walk and feels all the better for having done it. But the EH staff should be ashamed of themselves, propagating a myth that they know is unsupported by hard evidence and which is seriously challenged by others, including myself. It's all about marketing, and all about money. As long as the Stonehenge cash registers keep on jangling, who cares about the truth?
if the idea that annual feasting and markets took place near stonehenge is plausible
ReplyDeleteif the people from west wales had livestock to sell at or near stonehenge
if oxen had already been domesticated in west wales
then the annual droving of livestock towards stonhenge might also have provided the motive poewer for hauling the stones
... just sayin'
Who is this Professor Ray of Sunshine Walking? Can't be bothered to look him up. It would be too good to be true if he turns out to be a colleague of Mike Parker Pearson, whose all - time heroe is of course either Harrison Ford or Indiana Jones, not sure which....
ReplyDeleteI suppose the route itself is to remain top secret until the broadcast and book release are scheduled. Nice work if you can get it!
ReplyDeleteYes -- have no doubt that a book and a TV programme are on the way.........
ReplyDeletePanorama did a programme Monday night:- Smart Motorways: When Technology Fails. Was Professor Ray going the suicidal M4 Way?
ReplyDeleteNo -- the A40 route, by the sound of it........ much more picturesque, and more cafes to choose from.....
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if what I heard was true, but it was doing the rounds that tenders were being issued for the installation of street lighting along the whole of the route to enable visitors to travel the paths at all times. One proviso was that trekkers had to carry a single 100 Watt solar panel, a battery and a lamp, in case unhappy locals (tribesmen) interfered with the power supply.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it could just be that the RAY of LIGHT is simply seeking publicity, and, the chance of entry into the hallowed ranks of MPP et al.
I have investigated Professor Ray of Sunshine (...or is it all illegal contraband Moonshine??) and find that he's based at Cardiff University, and that he has been busy with one of Mike Parker Person's Stonehenge Riverside Project's people, namely Julian Thomas. They've written books and articles together, some of it as a result of their work in Herefordhire at a Neolithic site Alice Roberts has televised.
ReplyDeleteProfessor Keith Ray of Cardiff University has done very thorough investigations into the positioning of the Offa's Dyke barrier between Wales and Mercia, built in Saxon times, involving him walking thereabouts. So he's a real "hands - on" chap....... all power to him!
ReplyDelete