tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post7321310106940653855..comments2024-01-30T06:35:10.103+00:00Comments on www.Sarsen.org: The Avenue - Not A Processional Way?Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-35071716256029180032012-11-26T14:46:28.222+00:002012-11-26T14:46:28.222+00:00One thing in which I have been sorely neglectful i...One thing in which I have been sorely neglectful is finding a comparative date between the Avenue and the Hedge at the Stones.<br />If the Hedge surrounded the edifice, it must have been prior to the Avenue when blasphemous wrong-doers could be prevented from wandering in from anywhere. If contemporary and only partial it was intended to screen the flanks only from the Avenue perspective.<br /><br />I for one believe the Avenue was a Processional for both Big-Shots as well as the rank & file. The Big-Wigs would lead the Procession and either enter the Circle or hang about the Heelstone. Steve the Dustman and his ilk would have a seat on the grass beyond. It would be interesting, if along the ditches or bank, we were to find the equivalent of a Neolithic lunch-box.<br /><br />Someone recently said that the Ice Striations were actually gouge-marks left from dragging the Stones. This makes little sense to me, as it is widely presumed that they used a kind of sledge arrangement to haul the Stones from Fyfield, et.al. So why dismount this great honking brick only to drag it the last 500 yards? Lots of direct & indirect evidence indicates that the channels in the chalk were made by Ice, so let's put that one to bed.<br /><br />Perhaps I'm biased, as I have always been a vocal proponent for these coincidentally aligned gouges used as a rationale for Stonehenge being situated in this otherwise really boring location.<br />(My previous detractors are somewhat muted now, as it’s clear that recently some pretty heavy-hitters have come to profess this.)<br /><br />Anyway, as the workstation for shaping the Stones is located slightly to the west of the Avenue, north of the Heelstone, it becomes doubtful that the crafted track was used for transport. Also, the Stones were probably in place before the Avenue was built.<br /><br />So then, to paraphrase Jon Morris, simple foot-traffic would leave little evidence, while carts or sledges would leave ruts ― ergo: a fancy Processional winding through an otherwise Sacred Landscape, avoiding nearby Mounds & Barrows.<br /><br />Notice also that this Boulevard mimics the peculiar inner bank of the main Henge. If, as I suspect, this bank was intended as a symbolic Barrier between the Sunny Overworld and the Blackness beyond Sky, it follows that the Avenue was built as a safe route by which to navigate across the landscape unmolested by Evil Spirits.<br /><br />So, in conclusion, I believe the Avenue to have been both a Processional on its long run from the River, as well as front row theater seats, if you will, for the Regular People to celebrate whatever it was they celebrated.<br /><br />Best from this chair,<br />NeilAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17765994049750866582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-38336332456630954092012-11-20T15:13:27.211+00:002012-11-20T15:13:27.211+00:00Hi Tim & Janet
I've put forward a book co...Hi Tim & Janet<br /><br />I've put forward a book containing a possible theory which links Stonehenge in with some recent research into renewable energy (I put a link on the site earlier).<br /><br />We're about to file for grant (the filings are just markers with narrow claims). I thought I'd mention it only because the current filings would mean that English Heritage would no longer be able to claim certain rights if subsequent applications were made by anyone along the same lines.<br /><br />Only a concern if Stonehenge was later confirmed to have this link. I've talked to a large number of EH people about this in the past. Nobody I talked to seemed interested or concerned, but though it worth one last mention.<br /><br />All the best <br /><br />Jon Jon Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11264966739582178631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-25096563349927335102012-11-19T19:49:01.001+00:002012-11-19T19:49:01.001+00:00As the stones themselves seemed 'off limits...As the stones themselves seemed 'off limits' for most, perhaps so too with the Avenue. It may well have been only a very few 'chosen' that traversed the route from the river to the monument. Maybe those fields with their older and contemporary monuments were just too sacred for the ordinary people--or full of malign spirits that only priests or chiefs could face unharmed.StoneLordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07338820506795034334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-85264401281854810252012-11-19T08:19:36.306+00:002012-11-19T08:19:36.306+00:00Hi Tim
Rutting occurs as a result of weakening of...Hi Tim<br /><br />Rutting occurs as a result of weakening of the top surface layer of a material and is usually approximated to the square of contact pressure (though it's more complex than this).<br /><br />What this means in practice is that the route is unlikely to have been used for carts, cattle, dragging of equipment and so on. It also perhaps mitigates against the route being used for people walking in fixed processional lines. However, a lack of rutting does not suggest that the route was not used for large volume light access traffic (people).<br /><br />For example, if you walk along the South Downs Way, routes which have vehicle access are rutted. However, routes which are only used for random pedestrian access do not tend to be rutted, despite having had an exceptionally high volume of light access traffic (people) over the last few decades.<br /><br />Another way of looking at it is to look at the route around the perimeter of Stonehenge as it exists now. Every year, this route has a volume of people walking around it probably equivalent to the entire population of Britain in the period that Stonehenge was in use.Jon Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11264966739582178631noreply@blogger.com