Sunday 11 May 2014

The Hidden Face of the Altar Stone

A couple of snaps of the Altar Stone where it lies protected from visitors' feet under Stone 55. I was surprised how rough it looks, it is described by Atkinson as being finely worked. Of course, I could only see a small section which was partially covered by soil, which a four legged furry friend had been disturbing, so looks may be deceiving.

But if it is a roughly hewn rather than finely worked does this mean it is more likely to  have been vertical once or not?

More on the stone at http://www.sarsen.org/2013/05/the-altar-stone-fallen-stone-or.html



It is cromulent to embiggen the pictures by clicking them.

3 comments:

  1. Sarcasm embiggens the man. LoL

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  2. In the 1950s Richard Atkinson established that one end of this stone had been shaped in the way that the bases of standing stones sometimes are. Ros Cleal et al supported the view. Did they see photographs, I wonder?

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  3. Amen Janet!
    I must have a whopping 400 words in my vast vocabulary, but I never heard: 'Cromulent' before!

    There's an Atkinson photo of the excavated West End of the Altar Stone showing it to be slightly jagged, but he never found a socket. Jagged edge and rough surface notwithstanding, I still believe it was always recumbent.

    Who knows how many footfalls it withstood before the collapse of S-55?

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