It's quite extraordinary that in the article by MPP et al on distant stone sources, they got away with this sort of nonsense in the text, without being pulled up by the journal editor or the "experts" selected for peer review duties.n Whatever has happened to academic archaeology and the journals that represent it to the outside world?
from pp 114-115
The great passage tombs of Newgrange and Knowth in Brú na Bóinne were constructed with stones brought from at least six source areas as far away as 40 km to the north and south along Ireland’s east coast (Cooney 2000, 136, Figure 5.2; Stout 2002, 30–1). The largest of these weigh around half a tonne – the greywacke blocks brought from up to 5 km away (see Figure 1).
The great passage tomb of La Hougue Bie, Jersey, incorporates different rocks from across the island (Bukach 2003). Apart from passage tombs, stone circles and other monuments at this time were also composed of different types of rock, although the distances travelled were substantially less. The two Orcadian stone circles, the Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stenness incorporate monoliths derived from up to seven sources, covering distances of more than 13 km (Downes et al. 2013; Richards 2013a). Also, different stone circles among the complex on Machrie Moor, Arran, are constituted of different types of rock: red sandstone and white granite, both derived from different places on the island (Richards and Wright 2013, 50–9).
The great passage tomb of La Hougue Bie, Jersey, incorporates different rocks from across the island (Bukach 2003). Apart from passage tombs, stone circles and other monuments at this time were also composed of different types of rock, although the distances travelled were substantially less. The two Orcadian stone circles, the Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stenness incorporate monoliths derived from up to seven sources, covering distances of more than 13 km (Downes et al. 2013; Richards 2013a). Also, different stone circles among the complex on Machrie Moor, Arran, are constituted of different types of rock: red sandstone and white granite, both derived from different places on the island (Richards and Wright 2013, 50–9).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/AI.27.1.13
No mention at all of the possibility -- indeed the probability -- of glacial transport of the stones used in monument building at Newgrange, Knowth, the Orkneys and Arran. I have dealt with this matter before:
I don't know what the situation may be on Jersey, because the article by Bukach (2003) is behind a paywall -- but it appears that the bulk of stones used in passage grave construction were "local" and that some were "non-local". I don't know how those terms were defined, and how far certain stones might have been moved.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0092.00002
The thing that concerns me the most is that three of the authors of this article (Bevins, Pearce and Ixer) are geologists, and that they appear to be fully signed up to a ruling hypothesis that completely denies any role for natural processes in the movement of stones in areas known to have been heavily glaciated on several occasions.
