Friday 18 September 2015

Great new book on Stonehenge

5 comments:

  1. Interesting to see a new book out. Looked at the preview. Don't know if you know the author, but one thing that struck a note was

    "The fist evidence people left of their awareness of this area is a post hole dating to 8.000 BC. Into a pit a metre in diameter, the massive trank of a Scots Pine tree was placed. People would haw had to travel twenty miles to the north or south to find such a tree ar they do not grow on chalk downland"

    I live about two mile away from the top of the South Downs (+200m). We have a few tall Scots Pines thriving at the bottom of the garden (north facing slope but much lower than the nearby chalk lands): One of those Scots Pines is about 600mm diameter:

    Is there something that stops these trees from thriving in the lower sections of the Wiltshire Downs?

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  2. As far as I know pine grows anywhere as it has a 'shallow' root system - that's why they fall over easily in a storm. The most interesting aspect is that this 'redwood' is perfect and strong timber of choice for boats as it can not only be planked easily but the bark produces its own tar for waterproofing!

    Did they travel 20 miles downstream to collect the wood - love to think so but probably not!!

    RJL

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  3. Scots pine generally likes acidic soil but can thrive in balanced soil. Although we' re near the edge of the chalk-lands, our soil has a neutral ph.

    So the author is correct in saying that these sort of trees do not like chalk downland.

    However, it wouldn't be correct to say that all the soil near to Stonehenge is representative of chalk downland (I did a bit of research into this for a completely different reason). Out of interest, here's an example link to local non-typical soil type found in the area:

    Borehole log

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  4. You got yourself a mighty riverbed there my friend all the way down to 15' of silt!! Can't be Stonehenge bottom as the silt only goes down to 10' so must be towards the Avon?

    No doubt the pine trees could have grown towards the edge of the receding river Avon as it would be fresh with nitrogen 14 from the floodplain which is ideal for growth of trees and bushes. So somewhat closer to Stonehenge than the author suggested.

    RJL

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  5. From memory, that particular borehole is a couple of miles north-east of Stonehenge.

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