Thursday 1 May 2014

Barclay, Edgar. Stonehenge and Its Earth-Works. With Plans and Illustrations. London: D. Nutt, 1895.

Fascinating and well illustrated book on Stonehenge.

Free to browse at https://archive.org/stream/stonehengeandit00barcgoog#page/n6/mode/2up

or downloadable from https://openlibrary.org/books/OL20590864M




Click to embiggen


2 comments:

  1. Where do you find this stuff, Tim! I love it.

    Oddly, it looks as if S-56 is upright ...

    ... and will somebody Pul-Ease tell me what a "Horn Stone" is? This is the 2nd time I've seen that term. All I can come up with is that it's what they used to call dolerite. Yes? / No?

    Best,
    Neil

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  2. A type of quartz it seems?

    http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ITsAAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA12&lpg=PA12&dq=Sowerby,+horn-stones&source=bl&ots=4Q3jLMbBbl&sig=hBynTH4QldhsS2scGIrlxTNLhvc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=i3JjU_HlAcz-PK-3gOAB&ved=0CE4Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Sowerby%2C%20horn-stones&f=false

    Moreover, as mentioned in the book -

    "No. 16 is a mutilated flat barrow, 76 feet in diameter, and only 3 feet in elevation. This appears to have been one of those opened by Dr. Stukeley, and thus mentioned by him in his account of STONEHENGE (page 46). " And in a very great and old fashioned barrow, west from STONEHENGE, among such matters, I found bits of red and blue marble chippings of the stones of the temple ; so that, probably, the interred was one of the builders." During our researches in this tumulus, we perceived that a long section had been made, and found the bones of two skeletons which had been interred on the floor, also several pieces of stag's horns, animal bones, etc. as well as some fragments of sarsen stones, similar to those which form the great trilothons of STONEHENGE. On clearing out the earth from this section, we observed a small heap of whiter soil, which having removed, we came to the primary interment of burned bones within a fine circular cist, and found a spear head of brass in fine preservation, and a pin of the same metal. It is somewhat singular, that these burned bones (a more than usual quantity) should have laid unmolested in a barrow where there were a hundred rabbit holes. On removing the earth from over the cist, we found a large piece of one of the blue stones of STONEHENGE, which Sowerby the naturalist calls a horn stone, which, with the sarsen stone, is a very singular occurrence, and decidedly proves that the adjoining temple was erected previous to the tumulus. Some persons acquainted with the soil in this part of Wiltshire, might think the finding of sarsen stones no uncommon event, and I should perhaps have thought the same, had these specimens been rounded by attrition ; but the stones found within this barrow, are pieces chipped off, (I am sorry to say) like those now daily knocked off from the great fallen trilithon. With regard to the blue stone, we are certain this species is not to be found in the southern district of Wiltshire. In opening the fine bell-shaped barrow N. E. Of STONEHENGE, we also found one or two pieces of the chippings of these stones, as well as in the waggon tracks round the area of the temple. These circumstances tend to give a much higher aera of antiquity to our celebrated building, than some antiquaries would be willing to allow, and evidently prove that at the period when the tumuli adjoining Stonehenge were raised, the plain was covered with the chippings of the stones that had been employed in the formation of the stone circle."

    Whats more interesting is the blue and red marble that was once associated with the temple and the cart tracks (sorry periglacial markings) all around the monument.

    Hello red and blue marble... thats an interesting piece of the jigsaw lost by archaeologists and historians - where are they now and where they come from??

    And as for cart tracks if you take time to read the account and the many references to them you will understand my scepticism of these modern findings.

    RJL

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