The Daro-Daro from Nias

Thanks to Geo for drawing our attention to this fantastic photo.  Apparently it's from the island of Nias, off the coast of Sumatra.  It appears to have been taken in 1915, during the transport of a large "daro-daro" stone, designated to be used as a justice table.  So clearly there was high status and motivation involved here.  I found a few more bits of interest, on the web:


Daro-daro -- flat stone used as a table -- for the administration of justice

Big stones (megaliths), some nicely decorated, were a part of the culture of the island of Nias off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. There were big stone statues, stone seats for the chieftains and stone tables where justice was done. There were also big stones needed to commemorate of important deceased people. When such a stone was erected, a ritual feast was to be given. All this to enable a nobleman to join his godly ancestors in the afterlife. On the photo such a stone is hauled upwards. The story has it that it took 525 people three days to erect this stone in the village of Bawemataloeo. (P. Boomgaard, 2001)

Stone and wood are two part of material that have significant meaning for Nias culture. Nias Island is famous with megalithic tradition[14]. According to research result form Medan Archeological office, there are some area in Nias that still have megalithic tradition: Subdistrict Sirombu (Sisabandrao village); Subdistric Mandrehe (Sisarahili village); Subdistrict Teluk Dalam (Bawomatoluo , Orahili Fau, Hilifalawu, Hilisimaetano); Subdistrict Lolowau (Olayama, Bawe Hesi, Ehosakhozi); Subdistrict Gomo (Tundrumbaho). The relic of megalithic tradition in Nias have connection not only with the soul of ancestor but also with the efforts to elevate the prestige and social[15].
Hombo Batu or stone jump is the one of tradition of Nias people that still exist until now. Usually, the people who will become to adult (men) must able to pass when jump the stone. The hight of stone from the ground around 2 – 2.5 meter. We still can find many relic of Nias people that made from stone : like menhir, statue, daro-daro (table from stone).

The "No Purpose" Hypothesis

Above, Carn Meini, in the open uplands, starting point for the CM team.  Below, Rhosyfelin, in the wooded lowlands -- starting point for the RYF team.   No contest really......


I was struck by this statement from Chris the other day:  "Colin Richards explained to me that cultures which move stones within living memory can assign different meanings to stones depending whether they are still attached, just quarried, or being moved.  He also said that the stones can lose an important meaning when they have arrived - the act of moving the stones being the centre of the ritual."  I'm not having a go at Chris here -- he was after all just reporting, not pontificating -- but the idea put forward by Colin Richards is really rather entertaining............

What he seems to be saying is that you do not need to have a purpose or an objective, in deciding to move one stone -- or maybe 80 -- from West Wales to Stonehenge.  The significance is all in the act of moving the stones.  If you are one of the stone movers, you need to know nothing of political alliances or economic motives or grand designs -- your satisfaction comes from the jolly good exercise and use of interesting haulage techniques that might be employed by you and your mates.  In other words, the stone moving expeditions are rather like team sports, in which you bond closely with your colleagues in pursuit of some utterly frivolous and useless goal, just in order to show that you are up to the task, and maybe to show that you are smarter than some other team who happen to be moving some other stones from elsewhere.  So maybe we had the Rhosyfelin stone hauling team versus the Carn Meini stone hauling team?  Maybe there was a handicap system in force, since the Rhosyfelin team had to cope with all those extra nasty river valleys and steep slopes, while the Carn Meini lot just had to go -- for the most part -- downhill?   And the result?  Carn Meini team -- 22 stones, Rhosyfelin team, 1?  A very one-sided contest, that one......

So now we have another "purpose" for Stonehenge.  It was not a Neolithic hospital, or a shrine to the dead ancestors, or a grain store, or an astronomical obervatory, or an art gallery, or a music hall, but it was a sporting arena, where strong and healthy chaps indulged in harmless exercise, just for the praise of their fellow men and the admiration of the women folk.  Were gold medals awarded to the winners, or just bronze ones?

Of course, I have argued earlier on this blog -- quite seriously -- that Stonehenge was a folly, erected in some grand exercise in self-glorification by a crazed Neolithic chieftain.  Sporting activities are not quite so stupid as building follies, but they come close, and as an enthusiastic sportsman myself in my youth,  I have to say that the idea that stone-hauling was a Neolithic sport (like curling or tossing the caber or putting the shot) should not be scoffed at by people who do not understand the competitive and sporting spirit.

So that's all sorted then.

The Carn Arthur Boulder

This is one of Ceridwen's excellent photos, added here at Chris's instigation.  Chris seems to think that we should delve into the mysteries of "stones that look like animals" and so forth -- not sure I want to go there.  But fine -- if you want to think this stone looks like an afanc or a dragon coming out of an egg, go ahead.  Mind you, from all other directions it looks like -- hmmm, a large stone.

Reminds me of all that fun and games a while ago about that stone hedgehog -- or was it a little piggy...?  Mind you, this one is a great deal more impressive -- although, as Geo says, it's pretty pathetic alongside some of the other perched blocks that we find on the granite coasts of Brittany and elsewhere.

Carn Arthur and the mighty boulder

 Two nice photos of the mighty boulder perched on top of Carn Arthur, not far from Carn Meini at the eastern end of Preseli.  It's not actually a rocking boulder, although it is pretty precarious.......

It all goes to show what a mighty fellow old King Arthur was -- for according to legend he was the one who put it there, by throwing it over the mountain from the other side, somewhere near Carn Alw.    Alternatively, if you want to be prosaic, a glacier might have done it.......

Stonehenge -- what the laser survey has revealed

Courtesy British Archaeology -- this is the plan that's doing the rounds of the web sites.  Very interesting -- it summarises what the new laser survey has revealed.

A Short History of the Bluestone Wars

Last evening I earned a free supper (not to be sniffed at in these straightened times) by giving a talk to the Preslei Tourist Association.  Seemed to go down well enough, although of course all the tourist operators LOVE the heroic human transport myth, and HATE the idea of somebody coming along and undoing all their careful sales pitches about the mysitcal wonders of the Preseli Hills area.  Heroic Neolithic tribesmen bring money into the local economy, as the Stonehenge management knows full well.......

Anyway, I had a bit of fun talking about the GW/TD tribe and the MPP tribe, and their various territories, magnanimous benefactors and TV spectaculars.   Mention was made of sacred springs and petrified ancestors.  That's all I am prepared to give away for the moment.....  actually you have heard most of it here before.

Latest Discovery Channel spectacular

Thanks to Robin Heath for these photos -- published in various places, including here:
http://blog.stonehenge-stone-circle.co.uk/category/megalith/

There is also an article with the following title:

Moving the Stonehenge Bluestones; at last a successful method is demonstrated!

I won't reprint the article, since it's full of inaccuracies.  No matter -- the main point  is that the Discovery Channel team from the US of A was determined to get their nice little project off the ground, and set up this experiment at Gwbert, near Cardigan.  The location was probably chosen in deference to Mike Parker Pearson, who now thinks that the Stonehenge bluestones were taken out to sea from the North Pembrokeshore coast, and not from Milford Haven.  (The Discovery Channel producer made contact with me some months ago, but when I tried to explain to her how ice worked, she quickly lost interest.  Glaciers are clearly not sexy enough for an American TV audience. A pity -- I was looking forward to a trip to Greenland with a film crew........)

You can see the method here -- a big wooden frame built between HWM and LWM in a tidal estuary,  and a system of rolling logs and ropes to lift the stone on its cradle and to move it along on the raised "rails".  Then as the tide rises the boat is floated in beneath the stone and its cradle, and when the cradle fits snugly in the bottom of the boat, you release the ropes.  Then, with the cradle and stone fitted snugly into the bottom of the boat, the boat floats free and goes zapping off to the mouth of the River Avon, or wherever.......

This is not the first time we have boats, stones, cradles and tides invoked as a means of lifting and shifting bluestones.  But this one does have the merit of being quite simple and straightforward.

But now to the problems.  First, the Ferriby boat is far too late -- the three Ferriby boats are dated to c 2,000 BC or younger, and they are always thought of as Bronze Age.  If the bluestones were moved by human beings from Wales, they must have been moved around 4,500 BC, if MPP is to be believed.  that's 2,500 years before the Ferriby boats were built.  It's easy to say, ah yes,  boats with sewn planking COULD have been built much earlier than the ones at Ferriby -- but I and many others have serious doubts about that that was possible without metal tools.  Second, I still have problems with the use of long and strong ropes -- such as those used on the famous Millennium Pull in the year 2000, and the ones used here in this experiment.  Did our Neolithic ancestors have the technology to make ropes like this?  I have never seen any evidence that they did..........

But what the hell.  These guys have had a lot of fun on this experiment, and the TV programme will probably give an hour of innocent escapist fun to TV viewers worldwide when it is shown.