I thought an experiment might be in order.
The white stripes showed up on Stone 56 after Gowland had re-erected it.
Gowland doesn't say if he packed between his "stout timbers" and the stone, but the photo suggests there my have been something placed there.
I have a well lichened Sarsen gatepost, originally from West Kennett, and plenty of stout oak timbers so I have strapped one very firmly to the sarsen and will leave it there for a fortnight to see what happens.
After two weeks I removed the timber and the lichen showed a very small amount of discolouration,
And another two weeks later maybe just a bit more, it looks like lichen has died but it is not conclusive.
I will keep observing.
Well, I guess when you're wrong you're just plain wrong.
ReplyDeleteI've been singing about painted stripes on the 5 lintels (and uprights) for a long time, and even had myself persuaded that my comment on Mike Pitts' site last week prompted his latest post on the subject.
While the interior vertical stripes on L-102 do look like paint, I had never seen the one Tim shows of S-56 after re-erection - and it clearly shows the 'after-image' of the baulking cradles.
The marks ain't paint, but dead lichen.
Nice catch, Tim - as usual.
Neil
(I apparently missed the June 2013 post on this!)
Neil - that is mighty big of you, but I don't think we know the answer yet.
DeleteTim