Thursday - December 22, 2011

Quarry Query: Found the Fount, Finally

Origin of Stonehenge rocks discovered

Experts say they have confirmed for the first time the precise origin of some of the rocks at Stonehenge.

It has long been suspected that rhyolites from the northern Preseli Hills helped build the monument.

But research by National Museum Wales and Leicester University has identified their source to within 70m (230ft) of Craig Rhos-y-felin, near Pont Saeson.

The museum’s Dr Richard Bevins said the find would help experts work out how the stones were moved to Wiltshire.

For nine months Dr Bevins, keeper of geology at National Museum Wales, and Dr Rob Ixer of Leicester University collected and identified samples from rock outcrops in Pembrokeshire to try to find the origins of rhyolite debitage rocks that can be found at Stonehenge.

By detailing the mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock, a process known as petrography, they found that 99% of the samples could be matched to rocks found in this particular set of outcrops.

Rhyolitic rocks at Rhos-y-felin, between Ffynnon-groes (Crosswell) and Brynberian, differ from all others in south Wales, they said, which helps locate almost all of Stonehenge’s rhyolites to within hundreds of square metres.

The National Museum Wales and Leicester University have identified the source as Craig Rhos-y-felin, located more than 100 miles from the Stonehenge site. But this discovery, of course, just opens on to another mystery--namely, just how and why an ancient culture carved and transported the giant stones over such a great distance.

“Being able to provenance any archaeologically significant rock so precisely is remarkable,” Dr. Rob Ixer of Leicester University told the BBC. “However, given continued perseverance, we are determined that we shall uncover the origins of most, if not all of the Stonehenge bluestones so allowing archaeologists to continue their speculations well into a third century.”

For the stones getting there, I don’t think the how is really all that hard to figure out. Use a whole bunch of giant logs to lever the stones out of the ground and then roll them downhill to the nearest river, which is right there, then tie the logs together to make a raft and carry them to the sea, which is only a couple miles away. Then it’s time for a bit of a boat ride, rafting them out and around to get to the Salisbury Plain. Once back on shore the rafts turn back into rollers, and a small army of folks pushes them along.

It’s the why part we’ve been wondering for ages. Still no answers there I’m afraid.

Did the days shift somehow? This is an A&R Thursday post, and it’s only Tuesday. Ah, I know, I’ll date it forward, so it shows up at the right place and time. Save me a bit of work then.

OK, that’s a pretty interesting “A” bit(yawn?) . What about some “&R”?

Posted by Drew458     on 12/22/2011 at 12:01 AM   
Filed Under: • Archeology / Anthropology • Eye-Candy •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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