tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57871853708587876582024-03-18T03:03:17.549+00:00www.Sarsen.orgMusings and bookmarks about Stonehenge and related stuff.Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.comBlogger993125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-41449731822336396142024-03-06T16:30:00.000+00:002024-03-06T16:30:02.753+00:00New lead isoscape map for archaeological provenance studies in Great Britain<p> I was asked again about "Pigs from Scotland at Stonehenge" - the latest science says; "no". For details see:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/new-lead-isoscape-map-for-archaeological-provenance-studies-in-great-britain/" target="_blank">https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/new-lead-isoscape-map-for-archaeological-provenance-studies-in-great-britain/</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoinD4dT4i0AkqTNfzVe22F1dZlrL1dfhtusT17gWCtfmYztRLyx6im30uO5IYJZ_jZxW81BItqbwiTjd6KOxTLCg9iFBfLADAhN-Mlfri8cTm6KLG8uJhxkeERa9fR8Yx-tY5p9VMuE0SpAwOlAyItxVNRwjuTxj2Gjqyt8OuxcFQySdNHqLKFSxbss0/s1280/206Pb-204Pb-with-chalk-lighter.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="906" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoinD4dT4i0AkqTNfzVe22F1dZlrL1dfhtusT17gWCtfmYztRLyx6im30uO5IYJZ_jZxW81BItqbwiTjd6KOxTLCg9iFBfLADAhN-Mlfri8cTm6KLG8uJhxkeERa9fR8Yx-tY5p9VMuE0SpAwOlAyItxVNRwjuTxj2Gjqyt8OuxcFQySdNHqLKFSxbss0/w284-h400/206Pb-204Pb-with-chalk-lighter.jpg" width="284" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>A contoured map of (A) 206Pb/204Pb isotope compositions. Superimposed over this contour map is the outcrop area of the Chalk Group. Chalk underlies much of southern Britain but it does not host much lead. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2022. BGS © UKRI.</i></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-50844824839422899742024-03-06T16:05:00.002+00:002024-03-09T09:27:09.157+00:00 Links between Distant Monuments <p></p>Reviewing Richard Bradley's Antiquity Article: Beyond the bluestones: links between distant monuments in Late Neolithic Britain and Ireland <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.3">http://dx.doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.3</a> I am struck by the concise way he sets out the long distance links. Whilst the degree of probability for each link that it actually existed varies I think taken together this paper establishes the long distance mindset of the prehistoric builders of monuments.<div><br /></div><div>Well worth reading. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377862711_Beyond_the_bluestones_links_between_distant_monuments_in_Late_Neolithic_Britain_and_Ireland">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377862711_Beyond_the_bluestones_links_between_distant_monuments_in_Late_Neolithic_Britain_and_Ireland</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I have scribbled his links onto the map in the paper to give a visual idea of the links he discusses: </div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIL8u0zr2jMy3BXAP2XPMqFR5i9ELHKSP4pDeJgbUgHfq8rxUOxUs27ravYZOn-yhI3T6AhTY_T9Q51BrCCGxMAvwjP13GldD4PDML49THOMLMqcMi_YQyk7u1QUhTPkWfSbFRtMYcjH-zUt_XZw8zFymdKk7vMMu1FzGaNnMq8gOnHE3UVAN-wr1KYBA/s1207/Beyond%20Map.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1207" data-original-width="970" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIL8u0zr2jMy3BXAP2XPMqFR5i9ELHKSP4pDeJgbUgHfq8rxUOxUs27ravYZOn-yhI3T6AhTY_T9Q51BrCCGxMAvwjP13GldD4PDML49THOMLMqcMi_YQyk7u1QUhTPkWfSbFRtMYcjH-zUt_XZw8zFymdKk7vMMu1FzGaNnMq8gOnHE3UVAN-wr1KYBA/w321-h400/Beyond%20Map.jpg" width="321" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The table from the paper: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbKo2q0z9InDV-wGcOGObfqGDeOT1JxB0E89Ezzqz-Xy19K8_tQxMY-WLd2FK7EJFdBfAWLBkXkltcROqm6HMFodt2MKgZBmxneNtun3H6vEuiQDwkSCjNTMFFi3Brl-XYO5lM1txFPZkXxK7-Tr6j0R_b_9k7J6lgmba-XEHeB3z8X5hIHnnGeog4o7Y/s1046/beyond%20the%20bluestones%20table.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="1046" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbKo2q0z9InDV-wGcOGObfqGDeOT1JxB0E89Ezzqz-Xy19K8_tQxMY-WLd2FK7EJFdBfAWLBkXkltcROqm6HMFodt2MKgZBmxneNtun3H6vEuiQDwkSCjNTMFFi3Brl-XYO5lM1txFPZkXxK7-Tr6j0R_b_9k7J6lgmba-XEHeB3z8X5hIHnnGeog4o7Y/w400-h239/beyond%20the%20bluestones%20table.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Click to embiggen</div><br /> <p></p></div>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-37755032910543619282024-02-20T20:34:00.003+00:002024-03-05T10:43:41.314+00:00Antiquity Article: Beyond the bluestones: links between distant monuments in Late Neolithic Britain and Ireland<div>Richard Bradley writes: <i>"Recent research has considered the relationship between Stonehenge and sites in south-west Wales, raising questions about whether the first monument at Stonehenge copied the form of an earlier stone circle at Waun Mawn and how the relationship between these sites was connected with the transport of bluestones between the different regions. But Stonehenge and Waun Mawn are not the only prehistoric sites in Britain and Ireland that share architectural elements and hint at social connections across vast distances of land and sea. This debate article explains how the questions raised about these Late Neolithic monuments can and should be applied to other monumental complexes to explore this insular phenomenon". </i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV1h6zj1p6QATGkP92kGwq36rko_fhJwqfbESGTHZ8S9TCza32z5kEwdCCbA3yB8y9EQmxNTfYWEIaNT7nA3LlILSbLQvBRESFOk9Fxa1sE6JHcJ3w0dUX2a_CqtK3xeUvrZ_Xo4ZhTk3KzwuyTSFiC3TeTICv7sBfh2TL5Q-dM16mMI7cUuBUJhf3RNc/s1957/beyond%20the%20bluestones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1957" data-original-width="1583" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV1h6zj1p6QATGkP92kGwq36rko_fhJwqfbESGTHZ8S9TCza32z5kEwdCCbA3yB8y9EQmxNTfYWEIaNT7nA3LlILSbLQvBRESFOk9Fxa1sE6JHcJ3w0dUX2a_CqtK3xeUvrZ_Xo4ZhTk3KzwuyTSFiC3TeTICv7sBfh2TL5Q-dM16mMI7cUuBUJhf3RNc/w324-h400/beyond%20the%20bluestones.jpg" width="324" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div><div>Links:</div><div><br /></div>Bradley, R. (2024) ‘Beyond the bluestones: links between distant monuments in Late Neolithic Britain and Ireland’, Antiquity, pp. 1–8. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.3" target="_blank">doi:10.15184/aqy.2024.3</a>.<div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377862711_Beyond_the_bluestones_links_between_distant_monuments_in_Late_Neolithic_Britain_and_Ireland">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377862711_Beyond_the_bluestones_links_between_distant_monuments_in_Late_Neolithic_Britain_and_Ireland</a></div>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-43902468717320107502024-01-29T19:58:00.004+00:002024-01-30T08:01:33.232+00:00 What about the Bluestone pXRF studies?<p>The recent paper on Stonehenge Sarsen Debitage* ends with this conclusion:</p><p><i>"Our key message is that studies attempting to use surficial (pXRF) analysis to provenance any excavated artefact must demonstrate that weathering processes following burial did not significantly alter the primary chemical signature of the material before any meaningful provenance interpretations can be made."... "Any future attempts to provenance excavated dolerite fragments at the monument (likely derived from the in situ dressing of megaliths and/or the removal of flakes in more recent history) must consider differences in the weathering regime experienced by the buried fragments, exposed potential outcrops and standing stones. Due to its mineralogical composition, dolerite is more susceptible to chemical weathering than sarsen. Thus, one should expect differences in weathering to be much more significant between buried dolerite fragments exposed to subsoil weathering, and dolerite outcrops and megaliths exposed to differing intensities and durations of subaerial weathering."</i></p><p>This obviously could be thought to apply to the existing analysis of the bluestone dolerites, and any other non-sarsen stone.</p><p>So is there a problem?</p><p>Firstly, apart from the Newall boulder (<a href="https://www.sarsen.org/2023/07/the-erratic-that-came-in-from-cold.html" target="_blank">https://www.sarsen.org/2023/07/the-erratic-that-came-in-from-cold.html</a>), all the pXRF analysis has been on exposed Stonehenge stones comparing to exposed Welsh rocks, so they are like for like comparisons. And the Newall boulder was further analysed to show it was part of a broken monolith from Craig Rhos‐y‐Felin** </p><p>Secondly the geochemistry revealed by xPDF is only part of the story. The recent Ixer, Bevins et al papers have also used petrology, understanding the matrix of the rock, to identify sources.</p><p>For instance in Bevins, Richard & Ixer, Robert & Webb, Peter & Watson, John. (2012). <b>Provenancing the rhyolitic and dacitic components of the Stonehenge landscape bluestone lithology: New petrographical and geochemical evidence</b>. Journal of Archaeological Science. 39. 1005–1019. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257154737_Provenancing_the_rhyolitic_and_dacitic_components_of_the_Stonehenge_landscape_bluestone_lithology_New_petrographical_and_geochemical_evidence">10.1016/j.jas.2011.11.020</a> the authors showed how Craig Rhos‐y‐Felin rhyolite had been misidentified as microtonalite, the geochemistry was very similar but the petrography different. This holistic approach to identification instills confidence. </p><p>But the big difference is in the nature of the stones. Sarsen is over 99% silica, it is the white Wonderloaf of rocks. The various bluestones are complex rocks with other compounds in great abundance in them. So the presence of a small amount of chemical changes from weathering is important on Sarsen but not for bluestone. As Rob Ixer says; "<i>A smear of marmite on plain buttered toast would be tasted but the same smear on jalapeno-anchovy toast would add nothing.</i>"</p><p>So the valuable lesson of the problems of using pXRF on Sarsen for sourcing studies doesn't cause worries about the reliability of the recent Bluestone papers, and is unlikely to be a problem in the future. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifs8o_0IbjnjnKyBfHwSadIeXID5zgd48nrlzvcwnH24ig2wnD0pqnM7GbQodCDLqQjYU7r6EECfSnQo8yTyUOeludKMaprt2CeJqXkqYJ9Jp6CIIaNYIQg0d9xr-7gdzTH85b7tGY9Dw0LxFAnmJ0Ah_y8w43ObC9Q4RFjc5JOg8tx00ryPhSQxLkorQ/s1024/_6c34f715-4a54-454f-a917-2b148236361d.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifs8o_0IbjnjnKyBfHwSadIeXID5zgd48nrlzvcwnH24ig2wnD0pqnM7GbQodCDLqQjYU7r6EECfSnQo8yTyUOeludKMaprt2CeJqXkqYJ9Jp6CIIaNYIQg0d9xr-7gdzTH85b7tGY9Dw0LxFAnmJ0Ah_y8w43ObC9Q4RFjc5JOg8tx00ryPhSQxLkorQ/s320/_6c34f715-4a54-454f-a917-2b148236361d.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">David Nash responds: <i>Interesting thoughts but I wouldn’t be quite so confident about work on dolerite orthostats. These would have had fresh faces when quarried, and then slowly weathered at Stonehenge. The surfaces of comparator outcrops in Wales would have been weathering for much longer.
This means that the Preseli outcrops are likely to be more altered by weathering than the comparatively fresh orthostats. Plus the weathering environment in wales will be different to that of Salisbury Plain. PXRF work needs to bear these differences in mind.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">* <b>Local and exotic sources of sarsen debitage at Stonehenge revealed by geochemical provenancing,<br /></b>T. Jake R. Ciborowski, David J. Nash, Timothy Darvill, Ben Chan, Mike Parker Pearson, Rebecca Pullen, Colin Richards, Hugo Anderson-Whymark,<br />Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 53, 2024, 104406, ISSN 2352-409X,<br /><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104406">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104406</a>.(<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X24000348">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X24000348</a>)</div><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;">**<b>Lithological description and provenancing of a collection of bluestones from excavations at Stonehenge by William Hawley in 1924 with implications for the human versus ice transport debate of the monument's bluestone megaliths</b>: DOI:<a href="http://10.1002/gea.21971">10.1002/gea.21971<br /></a>Richard Bevins Rob Ixer Nick Pearce James Scourse Tim Daw<br /><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/YUUAUVRWBNTZTPSQVBGM?target=10.1002/gea.21971">https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author/YUUAUVRWBNTZTPSQVBGM?target=10.1002/gea.21971</a></div><p></p>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-88274635927464016892024-01-28T18:39:00.002+00:002024-01-28T19:21:24.180+00:00Possible Stonehenge Debitage Sources<p>The two "exotic" sources Nash et al identify as possible sources for sarsen at Stonehenge are Stoney Wish near Ditchling Sussex and on the side of the A272 near Bramdean in Hampshire.</p><p>To help identify them here they are:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHdoG_lMq3btjUA8SpO5MzYIk78dHVI2jpmjJphrm9WvVEzzWIh6pdjx_tkCxutVTY-fUBEmgc6mJ9_XM0fYw7rmr4uPYk-TSkFwrQawPJlNt61O5FWisCkM5obkD0yZOCE3tg8KAXHdlHanFpLmG7LnRHQri3DZ8aU95NjphSoItmqsLhfF2XeHbFUFA/s2082/Bramdean.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="2082" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHdoG_lMq3btjUA8SpO5MzYIk78dHVI2jpmjJphrm9WvVEzzWIh6pdjx_tkCxutVTY-fUBEmgc6mJ9_XM0fYw7rmr4uPYk-TSkFwrQawPJlNt61O5FWisCkM5obkD0yZOCE3tg8KAXHdlHanFpLmG7LnRHQri3DZ8aU95NjphSoItmqsLhfF2XeHbFUFA/w400-h178/Bramdean.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs-EbHiOtukM6mvnnk7_1CPVQ41WNNn9k_g67z-VYM5-tNEZm4P3EZX-QE1GHNxchsK9LE3WqIjH5ASjsGgsGfCjkcwIW6uox_SAlIbNt-GC0NHAFtJF-a71EiNXC8a2uO6rnDHQrzYI1_ExGLOFBrr1xg3gnmm-oVJ0o00tORjl2kkKM8IKc6UGZOo0I/s1970/Stoneywish.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="926" data-original-width="1970" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs-EbHiOtukM6mvnnk7_1CPVQ41WNNn9k_g67z-VYM5-tNEZm4P3EZX-QE1GHNxchsK9LE3WqIjH5ASjsGgsGfCjkcwIW6uox_SAlIbNt-GC0NHAFtJF-a71EiNXC8a2uO6rnDHQrzYI1_ExGLOFBrr1xg3gnmm-oVJ0o00tORjl2kkKM8IKc6UGZOo0I/w400-h188/Stoneywish.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click pictures to embiggen</span></div><div><br /></div>For a source of monoliths the geochemistry, the petrography (the internal matrix of the stone) and the form of the natural rocks has to match. West Woods still has large boulders despite years of breaking and removal that are the size of some of Stonehenge's stones. Do these sites match up to this or as the paper suggests are they sources for small hammerstones or similar sized stones? <br /><p>There is a question mark over where the Bramdean stones originated as the circle of stones seems to date from about 1845 - <a href="https://pastrambles.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/the-bramdean-circle-of-stones/" target="_blank">https://pastrambles.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/the-bramdean-circle-of-stones/ </a> erected by "<i>Colonel George Greenwood of Brockwood (formerly Brookwood) House, a large property down the lane on the other side of the crossroads...there are two possible explanations of the Colonel’s motivation for building the it in 1845 or thereabouts:
“One…is that he wished to see how long it would be before they were regarded as relics of the ancient past – this is commonly said of them today. The alternative is that they were a demonstration of the power of his tree-lifter”.
The tree-lifter was the Colonel’s invention for transplanting trees up to 30 feet in height with their ball of earth intact, a feat the apparatus apparently made possible for a single individual to do at a rate of one tree per day. The somewhat aptly-named Colonel Greenwood was very enthusiastic about the importance of trees to the landscape and wrote a book in 1844 called The Tree-lifter, Or a new method of transplanting forest trees,....Colonel Greenwood is said to have excavated local archaeological sites and was a keen geologist referred to as ‘the father of subaerialism’, ascribing the greater inequalities in the earth’s surface to atmospheric influences. ..It was said in his obituary that “had he fallen amongst geologists in early life, instead of amongst ‘thoroughbreds’, he would doubtless have occupied a leading place among men of science”. ... Incidentally, the colonel is buried nearby at All Saints church, Hinton Ampner, his grave stone a recumbent sarsen which stands out pleasingly amongst all the more traditional ones.</i> " </p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-84525698898810808452024-01-28T11:29:00.002+00:002024-01-28T11:30:30.773+00:00A few thoughts on the 2024 Sarsen Debitage Paper<h3 style="text-align: left;">Local and exotic sources of sarsen debitage at Stonehenge revealed by geochemical provenancing</h3><div>T. Jake R. Ciborowski, David J. Nash, Timothy Darvill, Ben Chan, Mike Parker Pearson, Rebecca Pullen, Colin Richards, Hugo Anderson-Whymark,</div><div>Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports,
Volume 53,
2024,
104406,
ISSN 2352-409X,
<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104406">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104406</a>.
(<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X24000348">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X24000348</a>)</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>An exciting addition to Stonehenge Research, identifying the sources of the stones not only satisfies the Stonehenge completist but also provides hints into the society that built it. The paper is very thorough and open and deserves study, even if the technicalities are beyond your ken. </div><div><br /></div><div>The authors have been admirably restrained in drawing conclusions about the sources of the debitage but it is worth emphasising the shortcomings they admit to. This is very much a preliminary paper and the tentative sources are just that.</div><div><br /></div><div>The first problem is that they are using only twenty sample sites to compare with, the sites are detailed in David J. Nash et al. , Origins of the sarsen megaliths at Stonehenge. Sci. Adv.6,eabc0133(2020). DOI:<a href="http://10.1126/sciadv.abc0133">10.1126/sciadv.abc0133</a> </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDwuGqMjvEYpLxq7bOev4KWCOJKmq6fbv4LZyOZyx5ZKBpjquQCE2AJDSdRDh_jLTqiY19rYslNW2dpaaM8mwDYYuEWXJBsoPBKLS8voPDc1y5l7vQtpKwI8dfT_2PZ7kTQ6KDqdXR3rfFlkBlnOqGtDr0ExFjhrMAu_ymcT_-TMn6GQF1ymlu8q0hLRQ/s1400/Sarsen%20Sampling%20Sites.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="687" data-original-width="1400" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDwuGqMjvEYpLxq7bOev4KWCOJKmq6fbv4LZyOZyx5ZKBpjquQCE2AJDSdRDh_jLTqiY19rYslNW2dpaaM8mwDYYuEWXJBsoPBKLS8voPDc1y5l7vQtpKwI8dfT_2PZ7kTQ6KDqdXR3rfFlkBlnOqGtDr0ExFjhrMAu_ymcT_-TMn6GQF1ymlu8q0hLRQ/w400-h196/Sarsen%20Sampling%20Sites.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Click to embiggen</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div>There is much more work to be done in sampling and plotting the variations in Sarsens before there can be confidence that all potential sources or areas are known.</div><div><br /></div><div>Secondly because of the well explained constraints they were working under the analysis had to be purely geochemical, whilst it isn't quite true that Coal and Diamonds are the same geochemically the principle that identification needs more than just the chemistry is valid.</div><div><br /></div><div>These points are known and acknowledged by the authors but in the excitement of considering how and why sarsen may have come from across southern Britain to Stonehenge they need to be born in mind.</div><div><br /></div><div>That long distance transport of stones and maybe even soil, Silbury?, was a Neolithic practice is well known, but this study points to where new archaeology research may be fruitful.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is one small inconsequential archaeological error I think I noticed in the paper. The position of excavation STH08 is erroneously plotted. I believe it is nearer the red rectangle I have overlain below.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjanilZWNYimwVWmEhQFv1hAOj89RCVzLWN5ZV1ubhHFxblxV2qgAV6JBZslZdFam_drsJRz4cWwoYNJLxaCHuQs6aJ_cr4VzKPpP1dIAvjqei2r6lbAyqjxJWgL1lac24oQrfmkbg1we7CdqSLtvm34ui9zPgQLUtapd7HNdgnZcX3auM8JU4z-4Mlx10/s587/STH08.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="559" data-original-width="587" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjanilZWNYimwVWmEhQFv1hAOj89RCVzLWN5ZV1ubhHFxblxV2qgAV6JBZslZdFam_drsJRz4cWwoYNJLxaCHuQs6aJ_cr4VzKPpP1dIAvjqei2r6lbAyqjxJWgL1lac24oQrfmkbg1we7CdqSLtvm34ui9zPgQLUtapd7HNdgnZcX3auM8JU4z-4Mlx10/s320/STH08.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>As <a href="https://www.sarsen.org/2013/09/darvill-and-wainwrights-excavation.html" target="_blank">I blogged before </a>it is a shame <a href="https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/11797/1/Darvill_and_Wainwright_2009_Stonehenge_Excavations_2008.pdf" target="_blank">the excavation report</a>* doesn't include a plan so it might be a problem if the plan becomes the record that is referred to in the future.</div><div><br /></div>*(The Antiquaries Journal, 89,2009,pp1–19r The Society of Antiquaries of London, 2009 doi:<a href="http://10.1017⁄s000358150900002x">10.1017⁄s000358150900002x</a>. First published online 21 April 2009) </div>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-21484565910964858302024-01-26T19:06:00.004+00:002024-01-26T19:08:53.276+00:00Local and exotic sources of sarsen debitage at Stonehenge revealed by geochemical provenancing,<div>David Nash et al have released a new paper on the Sarsen Sources of Stonehenge:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S2352409X24000348-gr16.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="795" height="393" src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S2352409X24000348-gr16.jpg" width="795" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>T. Jake R. Ciborowski, David J. Nash, Timothy Darvill, Ben Chan, Mike Parker Pearson, Rebecca Pullen, Colin Richards, Hugo Anderson-Whymark,<p><span style="font-size: large;">
Local and exotic sources of sarsen debitage at Stonehenge revealed by geochemical provenancing,</span></p><p>
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 53, 2024,
104406,
ISSN 2352-409X,</p><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104406">
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104406</a>.</p><p>
(<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X24000348">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X24000348</a>)</p><p>
Abstract: The application of novel geochemical provenancing techniques has changed our understanding of the construction of Stonehenge, by identifying West Woods on the Marlborough Downs as the likely source area for the majority of the extant sarsen megaliths at the monument. In this study, we apply the same techniques to saccharoid sarsen fragments from three excavations within and outwith the main Sarsen Circle to expand our understanding of the provenance of sarsen debitage present at the monument. Through pXRF analysis, we demonstrate that the surface geochemistry of 1,028 excavated sarsen fragments is significantly affected by subsurface weathering following burial in a way that cannot be overcome by simple cleaning. However, we show that this effect is surficial and does not have a volumetrically significant impact, thus permitting the subsequent use of whole-rock analytical methods. Comparison of ICP-AES and ICP-MS trace element data from 54 representative sarsen fragments with equivalent data from Stone 58 at Stonehenge demonstrates that none are debitage produced during the dressing of this megalith or its 49 chemical equivalents at the monument. Further inspection of the ICP-MS data reveals that 22 of these fragments fall into three distinct geochemical ‘families’. None of these families overlap with the geochemical signature of Stone 58 and its chemical equivalents, implying that sarsen imported from at least a further three locations (in addition to West Woods) is present at Stonehenge. Comparison of immobile trace element signatures from the 54 excavated sarsen fragments against equivalent data for 20 sarsen outcrop areas across southern Britain shows that 15 of the fragments can be linked to specific localities. Eleven of these were likely sourced from Monkton Down, Totterdown Wood and West Woods on the Marlborough Downs (25–33 km north of Stonehenge). Three fragments likely came from Bramdean, Hampshire (51 km southeast of Stonehenge), and one from Stoney Wish, East Sussex (123 km to the southeast). Technological analysis and refitting shows that one of the fragments sourced from Monkton Down was part of a 25.7 cm × 17.9 cm flake removed from the outer surface of a large sarsen boulder, most probably during on-site dressing. This adds a second likely source area for the sarsen megaliths at Stonehenge in addition to West Woods. At this stage, we can only speculate on why sarsen from such diverse sources is present at Stonehenge. We do not know whether the fragments analysed by ICP-MS were removed from (i) the outer surface of Stones 26 or 160 (which are chemically distinct to the other extant sarsen megaliths), (ii) one of the c.28 sarsen megaliths and lintels from the c.60 erected during Stage 2 of the construction of Stonehenge that may now be missing from the monument, or (iii) one of the dismantled and destroyed sarsen megaliths associated with Stage 1 of the monument. With the exception of the fragment sourced from Monkton Down, it is also possible that the analysed fragments were (iv) pieces of saccharoid sarsen hammerstones or their pre-forms, or (v) small blocks brought on-site for ceremonial or non-ceremonial purposes.</p><p></p><p>
Keywords: Stonehenge; Sarsen; Silcrete; Geochemical provenancing; pXRF; ICP-AES; ICP-MS</p><p>
</p><div><br /></div><div>David kindly explained the findings on X (née twitter) </div><div><a href="https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1750941470075371525.html">https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1750941470075371525.html</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><i>First, we analysed 1,028 sarsen fragments from 3 trenches dug at Stonehenge in 2008 using pXRF to see if there were differences within and between the trenches. In short, there weren't, due to subsoil weathering effects. Morale: don't bother using pXRF for this sort of thing. </i><p><i>
Second, we analysed 54 sarsen fragments from the 3 trenches using ICP-MS. This is where it gets interesting. Comparison of the geochemistry of fragments against data for 20 sarsen outcrop areas across southern Britain shows that 15 fragments can be linked to specific areas. </i></p><p><i>
Eleven sarsen fragments were likely sourced from Monkton Down, Totterdown Wood and West Woods on the Marlborough Downs (25–33 km N of Stonehenge). Three fragments likely came from Bramdean, Hampshire (51 km SE of Stonehenge), and one from Stoney Wish, East Sussex (123 km SE). </i></p><p><i>
You might be thinking "Wow, Neolithic people dragged sarsen boulders all the way from Hampshire, East Sussex and other sites on the Marlborough Downs to build Stonehenge, not just from West Woods!" Not quite. Calm down, calm down. </i></p><p><i>
We cannot tell if the fragments are from extant megaliths, or from stones from earlier phases of Stonehenge, or stones that have been removed. It is also possible the fragments were from saccharoidal sarsen hammerstones, or stone brought to Stonehenge for some other reason. </i></p><p><i>
There is one exception - a sarsen fragment sourced from Monkton Down that we know (thanks to expert refitting by Ben Chan) was part of a 25.7 × 17.9 cm flake removed from the outer surface of a large sarsen boulder, most probably during on-site dressing.</i></p><p><i>
We're pretty sure this boulder isn't on site today, unless it is stone 26 or 160, which have a different chemistry to the other extant sarsens. However, it adds a second likely source for the Stonehenge megaliths in addition to West Woods. I'll leave it there. Happy reading! </i></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-22263309542176704772024-01-21T18:53:00.019+00:002024-01-23T20:07:05.363+00:00How to set out the Stonehenge Sarsens - a workbook by Tim Daw <p><span style="font-family: arial;">A practical guide to setting out a replica of the sarsen
stones of Stonehenge, suitable for school, college or research purposes. By
providing a method insights into the building of Stonehenge and the skills of
the neolithic builders are gained.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #131314;"><span style="font-family: arial;">DOI: <o:p></o:p></span></span><a href="http://10.13140/RG.2.2.10572.59520" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">10.13140/RG.2.2.10572.59520</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.academia.edu/113831164/How_to_set_out_the_Stonehenge_Sarsens_a_workbook_by_Tim_Daw" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">https://www.academia.edu/113831164/How_to_set_out_the_Stonehenge_Sarsens_a_workbook_by_Tim_Daw</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://1drv.ms/b/s!AnyLSx7m646Z0CaFLKVO73klGEVv?e=sFGpfo" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">One Drive Link</span></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij6FIN7tolqEyqTPmuK7mEvj7CZx6UAXVMRs_cmiWP_EYna3LqTzvjz2Qvp-I_5s_DRKZVxr3ilJ7Fk_vf9IaRm7mivNhtuQJ5HDBSoiAz-hY6DN7s8NKuLVOc_h-zkw5ywlL3UXjxCwZZYCB02A3s7AMixYRRyEetWLNUyuetZe5rb7FWdZ5JKsSrpR0/s1601/Howto%2015xa.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1601" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij6FIN7tolqEyqTPmuK7mEvj7CZx6UAXVMRs_cmiWP_EYna3LqTzvjz2Qvp-I_5s_DRKZVxr3ilJ7Fk_vf9IaRm7mivNhtuQJ5HDBSoiAz-hY6DN7s8NKuLVOc_h-zkw5ywlL3UXjxCwZZYCB02A3s7AMixYRRyEetWLNUyuetZe5rb7FWdZ5JKsSrpR0/s320/Howto%2015xa.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The best way to understand a concept is to have to explain it and teach it so this workbook has helped me, I hope it helps others. Any problems getting a copy from the links above give me a shout.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-70705973390656720312024-01-12T18:53:00.000+00:002024-01-12T18:53:16.113+00:00Sexagesimal Stonehenge and the Bush Barrow Lozenge<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Sexagesimal
Stonehenge – The Geometry of the Stonehenge Sarsen Trilithons.</span></h1>
<h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Tim Daw*</span></h3>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p><span style="font-family: Courier New;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Courier New"; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYDPjupiVHPNy0hU2IciJ-97gNo9ZDhPiGcwHTn7gbTRFqJjdeVwzq81AGd_aBJSzRtCOfETg9z-QDWXjnU_Q-IF4-GzEz5Nug66LCq2XU3QwNnhPztkj72zdEFfcSohpfkxbDoR2atSWwyPUOsEBY6Hq2Ip1y1uJ_9FZDleYxLPJQ7fLzOhG9Vt3q_Y/s2331/Vertical%20Plan%20and%20BBL%20with%20solstice%20lines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1164" data-original-width="2331" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYDPjupiVHPNy0hU2IciJ-97gNo9ZDhPiGcwHTn7gbTRFqJjdeVwzq81AGd_aBJSzRtCOfETg9z-QDWXjnU_Q-IF4-GzEz5Nug66LCq2XU3QwNnhPztkj72zdEFfcSohpfkxbDoR2atSWwyPUOsEBY6Hq2Ip1y1uJ_9FZDleYxLPJQ7fLzOhG9Vt3q_Y/w640-h320/Vertical%20Plan%20and%20BBL%20with%20solstice%20lines.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New;"><i>Sexagesimal Stonehenge and the Bush Barrow Lozenge - Tim Daw</i></span></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stonehenge is a mystery that attracts
explanations which range from the banal to the fantastic. To claim a new theory
is original, interesting, and credible is to set a high hurdle. This brief note
presents what is believed to be a new geometric design that is simple, elegant,
and intriguing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The positions of the five sarsen
trilithons of the inner horseshoe at Stonehenge can be explained by a simple
plan of chords based on the sixty points of the outer sarsen circle. This
layout provides an accurate geometry for aligning to all the solstitial
sunrises and sunsets. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same geometry is exhibited by the
Bush Barrow Lozenge.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> <span></span></o:p></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><b>Key Words</b>:
Stonehenge, Bush Barrow Lozenge, Trilithons, Geometry, Sexagesimal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* January 2024
Preprint DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.16275.86560 License<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CC BY-SA 4.0<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* January 2024
Revised Draft License<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CC BY-SA 4.0<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* *Cannings Cross
Farm, All Cannings, Devizes Wiltshire SN10 3NP<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>tim.daw@gmail.com<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* 750 Words</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"> <span></span></span></p><!--more--><p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the earliest surveys of Stonehenge,
the plans of the stone setting have attracted geometric speculation. From Inigo
Jones (1655), Stukeley (1740) John Wood (1747) and John Smith(1771) to the
innumerable modern speculators the arrangement of the stones has been attempted
to be explained by many different diagrams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Figure 1 is believed to be most accurate plan of the present positions
of the stones. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJTeereJuHZVvR12np17rbCzrFGpvq11hfblnwy3Rnu1InjmsJxNjxDiT3VTXyzpfuEsVFehjyAgvgYC96QMhfQd6OAFUNOaAXTPolLdOhQN5mr_r8974Yv_xjC8XDgkYfJZDMAbiiRzKd8KebfPFLhbpS8VDseLWwi8W71b5NlcP-glTfFTlt-7HuIkw/s1460/Fig%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1460" data-original-width="1379" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJTeereJuHZVvR12np17rbCzrFGpvq11hfblnwy3Rnu1InjmsJxNjxDiT3VTXyzpfuEsVFehjyAgvgYC96QMhfQd6OAFUNOaAXTPolLdOhQN5mr_r8974Yv_xjC8XDgkYfJZDMAbiiRzKd8KebfPFLhbpS8VDseLWwi8W71b5NlcP-glTfFTlt-7HuIkw/w378-h400/Fig%201.jpg" width="378" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><i>Figure 1
Stonehenge Plan by Anthony Johnson, licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported license.</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For ease of explanation, I have taken the
plan and turned it so the solstical axis is vertical. This is the alignment of
the Midsummer Sunrise and Midwinter Sunset that passes through the monument.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; text-align: center;"> </span></p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3iyUEAQNai4vXUV9eSWyF9VNkG06OHDRlpx-N3oEHoHszVAm6MzxxRmoyI8SoTkS5RMNdNvtIBTsl9h02d_pggjo6H3isJX8AkGPfmnMfv0VsluQZYHy8TAwjmcecuZjB2YvY9L13_-CC4nT5vWstOGoudlTLWEn_cbBJDPfwev_5lszICTfmH94_t84/s1379/Fig%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="1379" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3iyUEAQNai4vXUV9eSWyF9VNkG06OHDRlpx-N3oEHoHszVAm6MzxxRmoyI8SoTkS5RMNdNvtIBTsl9h02d_pggjo6H3isJX8AkGPfmnMfv0VsluQZYHy8TAwjmcecuZjB2YvY9L13_-CC4nT5vWstOGoudlTLWEn_cbBJDPfwev_5lszICTfmH94_t84/w400-h288/Fig%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><i>Figure 2 Modified
Stonehenge Plan by Tim Daw based on Stonehenge Plan by Anthony Johnson,
licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported license</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In “The Twisted Trilithon – Stone 56 and
its Skew”, Daw T 2015, it was argued that the central trilithon, Stones 55. 56
and 156, and the Altar Stone, 80 were originally positioned at an angle to the
perpendicular of the solstical axis described, and that this angle of about 80
degrees to the axis aligned them to the other solstical sunrise and sunset, the
midwinter sunrise and midsummer sunset. The calculated angle for this alignment
is ”80° 49' 25" in 2500BCE, very close to 81° “ (Banton S, Pers Comm
2024).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The outer circle of Sarsens can be
considered to have had thirty standing stones and thirty gaps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There appear to be parchmarks where missing
stones are expected, Banton et al 2014, and so it is justifiable to use a
completed circle as the template. Taking the centres of these we can generate a
familiar pattern of sixty marks in a circle.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9W3dm6r615pD7gntByXwfGRPHP6JMAZjZMEHXKkWq6LXs0KeMfFfi0MU6ARt_VJ3GWvH8YqgeNdcwMKSRE4Z8gs92HBigVn3nlggOGtDODUlCiTswrFlA8YECZ2X15MWKP3jccs6IK7-EcDaZVuGzVu2wpHAgMLuYM6mIT12wlzkByvEXdwsG0TL2IB4/s1141/Fig%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1141" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9W3dm6r615pD7gntByXwfGRPHP6JMAZjZMEHXKkWq6LXs0KeMfFfi0MU6ARt_VJ3GWvH8YqgeNdcwMKSRE4Z8gs92HBigVn3nlggOGtDODUlCiTswrFlA8YECZ2X15MWKP3jccs6IK7-EcDaZVuGzVu2wpHAgMLuYM6mIT12wlzkByvEXdwsG0TL2IB4/s320/Fig%203.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><i>Figure 3
Clockface image generated by Tim Daw</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The diagram has every fifth mark
enlarged; this is purely for ease of understanding as it echoes the familiar
clockface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also added are a central
marker and a central circle at half the diameter of the outer circle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A geometric property of such a circle is
that a chord, a line across a circle that doesn’t necessarily pass through the
centre, can be easily drawn at 81 degrees to a diameter line. To use the
familiar clock idiom a line drawn from 42 minutes to 15 minutes is at 81
degrees to the vertical line. The same angle as the claimed additional
solstical lines of the stones 55-56 and the Altar Stone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Bush Barrow Gold lozenge found close
to Stonehenge in Bowl Barrow Wilsford G5 as part of a rich assemblage of grave
goods, now in the Wiltshire Museum, is based on the 81-degree angle. It dates
from a more recent period than the construction of Stonehenge, but its use of
the same angle suggests that the knowledge of its significance and method of
recording it had continued.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3sjl3eeb-l6TNfspz70JBfJ-UhnZ36vAaN1F7TO7F4T2TnGJatfXEjseyDCOG0v3HWhnQp1l_wN1ZsYSnGWAI4zYKffPQjfIj33g74Q2tsOVsjcJuzAriVnkHDuMO3QTIbqmh3MUR0AI_-CJnyL-OrwPWnVzMqbYjL1w40JlEug9VgAptG9rs2N-z7wI/s602/Fig%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="602" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3sjl3eeb-l6TNfspz70JBfJ-UhnZ36vAaN1F7TO7F4T2TnGJatfXEjseyDCOG0v3HWhnQp1l_wN1ZsYSnGWAI4zYKffPQjfIj33g74Q2tsOVsjcJuzAriVnkHDuMO3QTIbqmh3MUR0AI_-CJnyL-OrwPWnVzMqbYjL1w40JlEug9VgAptG9rs2N-z7wI/s320/Fig%204.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"> <i> </i><i>Figure 4 The Bush Barrow Lozenge,
Wiltshire Museum Photograph, overlain with angled lines and clockface by Tim
Daw </i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other four trilithons of the inner
horseshoe are also positioned on regular chords across the circle, to within an
acceptable accuracy of the plan and their present positions which have been
subject to movement and even re-erection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They appear to be positioned so that the
centre of the flat inner surface of each trilithon is halfway from the outer
circle to the centre of the monument. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The proposed chords and as an overlay on
the plan:</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; text-align: center;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6meHQz87sjSdH6ttWKfAWDHsUdrJCSS9nx4Yjd1MUHrRZ13bo59rZiWeNeFzL77w616OIccBupiQRaVkI10ucDOMDKc-CxtmgD-cxC-peY837vjCMcBOnlEISOurCyazKnChIhyphenhyphen7ZAqPG7t0f4LHaDS3dHYG-jzj-9Oii5CPHguhGLWL6b4GGcPqrdgE/s1364/Fig%205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="981" data-original-width="1364" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6meHQz87sjSdH6ttWKfAWDHsUdrJCSS9nx4Yjd1MUHrRZ13bo59rZiWeNeFzL77w616OIccBupiQRaVkI10ucDOMDKc-CxtmgD-cxC-peY837vjCMcBOnlEISOurCyazKnChIhyphenhyphen7ZAqPG7t0f4LHaDS3dHYG-jzj-9Oii5CPHguhGLWL6b4GGcPqrdgE/s320/Fig%205.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"> </span><i style="font-family: "Courier New"; text-align: left;">Figure 5
Clockface plan with chords generated by Tim Daw</i><p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5KAWnOxbCFHEGt4-eY4lcReqBK3ychA1ciUAEpzWqL52G-eA9JKKbeQtWcMzr85ny13u_7RFKYjDayYRxr7aU1kCiXEiMZoeUzJO3XQiOsxcl7LxP4UEJDP0frVTCzmCOKUZdMbi4Nf_hLtzBPwG5tmouVCu_xBle5ZVMqECwqXV0ZJpR_M8cXLciOU8/s1379/Fig%206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1085" data-original-width="1379" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5KAWnOxbCFHEGt4-eY4lcReqBK3ychA1ciUAEpzWqL52G-eA9JKKbeQtWcMzr85ny13u_7RFKYjDayYRxr7aU1kCiXEiMZoeUzJO3XQiOsxcl7LxP4UEJDP0frVTCzmCOKUZdMbi4Nf_hLtzBPwG5tmouVCu_xBle5ZVMqECwqXV0ZJpR_M8cXLciOU8/w400-h315/Fig%206.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><i>Figure 6
Stonehenge Plan with chords. Based on figures 2 and 5</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><i><br /></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This simple diagram with the suggestion
that the architects of Stonehenge used the geometry of a sexagesimal circle may
form the basis of further speculation and insights.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><b>Acknowledgement:</b>
The invaluable help from Simon Banton in sharing his knowledge, skills, and
enthusiasm. This paper is self-funded.</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><b>References:</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">BANTON, S, et al.
2014 Parchmarks at Stonehenge, July 2013. Antiquity. 2014;88(341):733-739.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Banton S,
2024. WhatsApp message 3 January 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">DAW, T
2015 The Twisted Trilithon – Stone 56 and its Skew,
WANHM vol. 108 (2015 pp15-24)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">JONES I, 1655.
The most notable antiquity of Great Britain, vulgarly called Stone-Heng on
Salisbury plain, London<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">SMITH, J. 1771. Choir
Gaur: The Grand Orrery of the Ancient Druids, Commonly Called Stonehenge on
Salisbury Plain, Astronomically Explained and Mathematically Proved to be a
Temple Erected in the Earliest Ages ... United Kingdom<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">STUKELEY W, 1740.
Stonehenge, a Temple Restor'd to the British Druids, London : Printed for W.
Innys and R. Manby, London<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">WOOD, John. 1747
Choir Gaure, Vulgarly called Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, Oxford<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-14472912929714947542024-01-11T11:40:00.003+00:002024-01-11T11:44:59.121+00:00Fantasy Quarry?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9dRFdDLxgduO_9_11sCcWBqctnYC8PNcxUDvraq1E8nqgBoG616VBAzuqk_v7u_1m_ZZpHxB7Q54fDi3BSc4aNrpdCIIm334bDaJNdwlL1aCcYnYsZmuKfJyPfbk8U-EGPAQsF2hFFreAfdBKzL9l6YtYs39StL2DTBPpbHRYa5RqNewomtUCRAo70B8/s1024/_e3d55999-ed50-480d-a84e-3e09d895be23.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Carn Goedog on Mynydd Preseli - Brian John" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9dRFdDLxgduO_9_11sCcWBqctnYC8PNcxUDvraq1E8nqgBoG616VBAzuqk_v7u_1m_ZZpHxB7Q54fDi3BSc4aNrpdCIIm334bDaJNdwlL1aCcYnYsZmuKfJyPfbk8U-EGPAQsF2hFFreAfdBKzL9l6YtYs39StL2DTBPpbHRYa5RqNewomtUCRAo70B8/w320-h320/_e3d55999-ed50-480d-a84e-3e09d895be23.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>A paper has been uploaded to Researchgate claiming: <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377230821_Carn_Goedog_on_Mynydd_Preseli_was_not_the_site_of_a_bluestone_megalith_quarry" style="font-family: "Manrope Var", Manrope, "Inter Var", Inter, Arial, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Carn Goedog on Mynydd Preseli was not the site of a bluestone megalith quarry</a></p><p><i>"This paper examines the hypothesis that Carn Goedog, a prominent tor on the north 5lank of Mynydd Preseli in Pembrokeshire, Wales, was the site of a Neolithic quarry from which Stonehenge bluestones were extracted on a large scale. The dolerite sills in the area are geochemically heterogenous, with multiple outcrops. Claims of !precise provenancing" of Stonehenge spotted dolerite fragments to Carn Goedog are questionable.. Geomorphological studies on the tor reveal that pillars suitable for use as monoliths are restricted to a few small areas, difficult to access. Frost-shattered blocks dominate. Many have sub-rounded edges, suggesting long-term weathering and redistribution by glacier ice. Moulded and smoothed surfaces indicate that the influence of overriding ice has been considerable. At Stonehenge, most of the bluestones are abraded boulders which look like glacial erratics. Examinations of the supposed !Neolithic quarry" site reveal that all of the "engineering features" are natural. Stone artefacts owe nothing to quarrying activities, but point to a history of intermittent occupation. Soft shale "wedges" supposedly used for extracting pillars from the rock face are natural and ubiquitous. Radiocarbon dating effectively falsifies the quarrying hypothesis. There was no Neolithic quarry at Carn Goedog, and if blocks of spotted dolerite were extracted and transported away from the vicinity of the tor, the agency was glacier ice." (sic)</i></p><p>That is probably all you need to read, no evidence that bluestones were transported by glaciers, presumably to Salisbury Plain, is offered.</p><p><i><br /></i></p>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-90777785357617676232024-01-10T16:17:00.001+00:002024-01-12T18:54:05.463+00:00Sexagesimal Stonehenge – The Geometry of the Stonehenge Sarsen Trilithons<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Sexagesimal
Stonehenge – The Geometry of the Stonehenge Sarsen Trilithons.</span></h1><div><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">(Updated draft)</span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Tim Daw*</span></h3>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p><span style="font-family: Courier New;"> </span></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Courier New"; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYDPjupiVHPNy0hU2IciJ-97gNo9ZDhPiGcwHTn7gbTRFqJjdeVwzq81AGd_aBJSzRtCOfETg9z-QDWXjnU_Q-IF4-GzEz5Nug66LCq2XU3QwNnhPztkj72zdEFfcSohpfkxbDoR2atSWwyPUOsEBY6Hq2Ip1y1uJ_9FZDleYxLPJQ7fLzOhG9Vt3q_Y/s2331/Vertical%20Plan%20and%20BBL%20with%20solstice%20lines.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1164" data-original-width="2331" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguYDPjupiVHPNy0hU2IciJ-97gNo9ZDhPiGcwHTn7gbTRFqJjdeVwzq81AGd_aBJSzRtCOfETg9z-QDWXjnU_Q-IF4-GzEz5Nug66LCq2XU3QwNnhPztkj72zdEFfcSohpfkxbDoR2atSWwyPUOsEBY6Hq2Ip1y1uJ_9FZDleYxLPJQ7fLzOhG9Vt3q_Y/w640-h320/Vertical%20Plan%20and%20BBL%20with%20solstice%20lines.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Courier New;"><i>Sexagesimal Stonehenge and the Bush Barrow Lozenge - Tim Daw</i></span></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stonehenge is a mystery that attracts
explanations which range from the banal to the fantastic. To claim a new theory
is original, interesting, and credible is to set a high hurdle. This brief note
presents what is believed to be a new geometric design that is simple, elegant,
and intriguing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The positions of the five sarsen
trilithons of the inner horseshoe at Stonehenge can be explained by a simple
plan of chords based on the sixty points of the outer sarsen circle. This
layout provides an accurate geometry for aligning to all the solstitial
sunrises and sunsets. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same geometry is exhibited by the
Bush Barrow Lozenge.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> <span></span></o:p></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><b>Key Words</b>:
Stonehenge, Bush Barrow Lozenge, Trilithons, Geometry, Sexagesimal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* January 2024
Preprint DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.16275.86560 License<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CC BY-SA 4.0<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* January 2024
Revised Draft License<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CC BY-SA 4.0<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* *Cannings Cross
Farm, All Cannings, Devizes Wiltshire SN10 3NP<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>tim.daw@gmail.com<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* 750 Words</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"> <span></span></span></p><!--more--><p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the earliest surveys of Stonehenge,
the plans of the stone setting have attracted geometric speculation. From Inigo
Jones (1655), Stukeley (1740) John Wood (1747) and John Smith(1771) to the
innumerable modern speculators the arrangement of the stones has been attempted
to be explained by many different diagrams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Figure 1 is believed to be most accurate plan of the present positions
of the stones. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJTeereJuHZVvR12np17rbCzrFGpvq11hfblnwy3Rnu1InjmsJxNjxDiT3VTXyzpfuEsVFehjyAgvgYC96QMhfQd6OAFUNOaAXTPolLdOhQN5mr_r8974Yv_xjC8XDgkYfJZDMAbiiRzKd8KebfPFLhbpS8VDseLWwi8W71b5NlcP-glTfFTlt-7HuIkw/s1460/Fig%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1460" data-original-width="1379" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJTeereJuHZVvR12np17rbCzrFGpvq11hfblnwy3Rnu1InjmsJxNjxDiT3VTXyzpfuEsVFehjyAgvgYC96QMhfQd6OAFUNOaAXTPolLdOhQN5mr_r8974Yv_xjC8XDgkYfJZDMAbiiRzKd8KebfPFLhbpS8VDseLWwi8W71b5NlcP-glTfFTlt-7HuIkw/w378-h400/Fig%201.jpg" width="378" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><i>Figure 1
Stonehenge Plan by Anthony Johnson, licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported license.</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For ease of explanation, I have taken the
plan and turned it so the solstical axis is vertical. This is the alignment of
the Midsummer Sunrise and Midwinter Sunset that passes through the monument.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; text-align: center;"> </span></p><p class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3iyUEAQNai4vXUV9eSWyF9VNkG06OHDRlpx-N3oEHoHszVAm6MzxxRmoyI8SoTkS5RMNdNvtIBTsl9h02d_pggjo6H3isJX8AkGPfmnMfv0VsluQZYHy8TAwjmcecuZjB2YvY9L13_-CC4nT5vWstOGoudlTLWEn_cbBJDPfwev_5lszICTfmH94_t84/s1379/Fig%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="1379" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3iyUEAQNai4vXUV9eSWyF9VNkG06OHDRlpx-N3oEHoHszVAm6MzxxRmoyI8SoTkS5RMNdNvtIBTsl9h02d_pggjo6H3isJX8AkGPfmnMfv0VsluQZYHy8TAwjmcecuZjB2YvY9L13_-CC4nT5vWstOGoudlTLWEn_cbBJDPfwev_5lszICTfmH94_t84/w400-h288/Fig%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><i>Figure 2 Modified
Stonehenge Plan by Tim Daw based on Stonehenge Plan by Anthony Johnson,
licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported license</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In “The Twisted Trilithon – Stone 56 and
its Skew”, Daw T 2015, it was argued that the central trilithon, Stones 55. 56
and 156, and the Altar Stone, 80 were originally positioned at an angle to the
perpendicular of the solstical axis described, and that this angle of about 80
degrees to the axis aligned them to the other solstical sunrise and sunset, the
midwinter sunrise and midsummer sunset. The calculated angle for this alignment
is ”80° 49' 25" in 2500BCE, very close to 81° “ (Banton S, Pers Comm
2024).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The outer circle of Sarsens can be
considered to have had thirty standing stones and thirty gaps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There appear to be parchmarks where missing
stones are expected, Banton et al 2014, and so it is justifiable to use a
completed circle as the template. Taking the centres of these we can generate a
familiar pattern of sixty marks in a circle.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9W3dm6r615pD7gntByXwfGRPHP6JMAZjZMEHXKkWq6LXs0KeMfFfi0MU6ARt_VJ3GWvH8YqgeNdcwMKSRE4Z8gs92HBigVn3nlggOGtDODUlCiTswrFlA8YECZ2X15MWKP3jccs6IK7-EcDaZVuGzVu2wpHAgMLuYM6mIT12wlzkByvEXdwsG0TL2IB4/s1141/Fig%203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="1141" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9W3dm6r615pD7gntByXwfGRPHP6JMAZjZMEHXKkWq6LXs0KeMfFfi0MU6ARt_VJ3GWvH8YqgeNdcwMKSRE4Z8gs92HBigVn3nlggOGtDODUlCiTswrFlA8YECZ2X15MWKP3jccs6IK7-EcDaZVuGzVu2wpHAgMLuYM6mIT12wlzkByvEXdwsG0TL2IB4/s320/Fig%203.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><i>Figure 3
Clockface image generated by Tim Daw</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The diagram has every fifth mark
enlarged; this is purely for ease of understanding as it echoes the familiar
clockface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also added are a central
marker and a central circle at half the diameter of the outer circle.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A geometric property of such a circle is
that a chord, a line across a circle that doesn’t necessarily pass through the
centre, can be easily drawn at 81 degrees to a diameter line. To use the
familiar clock idiom a line drawn from 42 minutes to 15 minutes is at 81
degrees to the vertical line. The same angle as the claimed additional
solstical lines of the stones 55-56 and the Altar Stone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Bush Barrow Gold lozenge found close
to Stonehenge in Bowl Barrow Wilsford G5 as part of a rich assemblage of grave
goods, now in the Wiltshire Museum, is based on the 81-degree angle. It dates
from a more recent period than the construction of Stonehenge, but its use of
the same angle suggests that the knowledge of its significance and method of
recording it had continued.</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3sjl3eeb-l6TNfspz70JBfJ-UhnZ36vAaN1F7TO7F4T2TnGJatfXEjseyDCOG0v3HWhnQp1l_wN1ZsYSnGWAI4zYKffPQjfIj33g74Q2tsOVsjcJuzAriVnkHDuMO3QTIbqmh3MUR0AI_-CJnyL-OrwPWnVzMqbYjL1w40JlEug9VgAptG9rs2N-z7wI/s602/Fig%204.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="602" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3sjl3eeb-l6TNfspz70JBfJ-UhnZ36vAaN1F7TO7F4T2TnGJatfXEjseyDCOG0v3HWhnQp1l_wN1ZsYSnGWAI4zYKffPQjfIj33g74Q2tsOVsjcJuzAriVnkHDuMO3QTIbqmh3MUR0AI_-CJnyL-OrwPWnVzMqbYjL1w40JlEug9VgAptG9rs2N-z7wI/s320/Fig%204.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"> <i> </i><i>Figure 4 The Bush Barrow Lozenge,
Wiltshire Museum Photograph, overlain with angled lines and clockface by Tim
Daw </i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other four trilithons of the inner
horseshoe are also positioned on regular chords across the circle, to within an
acceptable accuracy of the plan and their present positions which have been
subject to movement and even re-erection.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They appear to be positioned so that the
centre of the flat inner surface of each trilithon is halfway from the outer
circle to the centre of the monument. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The proposed chords and as an overlay on
the plan:</span><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; text-align: center;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6meHQz87sjSdH6ttWKfAWDHsUdrJCSS9nx4Yjd1MUHrRZ13bo59rZiWeNeFzL77w616OIccBupiQRaVkI10ucDOMDKc-CxtmgD-cxC-peY837vjCMcBOnlEISOurCyazKnChIhyphenhyphen7ZAqPG7t0f4LHaDS3dHYG-jzj-9Oii5CPHguhGLWL6b4GGcPqrdgE/s1364/Fig%205.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="981" data-original-width="1364" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6meHQz87sjSdH6ttWKfAWDHsUdrJCSS9nx4Yjd1MUHrRZ13bo59rZiWeNeFzL77w616OIccBupiQRaVkI10ucDOMDKc-CxtmgD-cxC-peY837vjCMcBOnlEISOurCyazKnChIhyphenhyphen7ZAqPG7t0f4LHaDS3dHYG-jzj-9Oii5CPHguhGLWL6b4GGcPqrdgE/s320/Fig%205.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"> </span><i style="font-family: "Courier New"; text-align: left;">Figure 5
Clockface plan with chords generated by Tim Daw</i><p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5KAWnOxbCFHEGt4-eY4lcReqBK3ychA1ciUAEpzWqL52G-eA9JKKbeQtWcMzr85ny13u_7RFKYjDayYRxr7aU1kCiXEiMZoeUzJO3XQiOsxcl7LxP4UEJDP0frVTCzmCOKUZdMbi4Nf_hLtzBPwG5tmouVCu_xBle5ZVMqECwqXV0ZJpR_M8cXLciOU8/s1379/Fig%206.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1085" data-original-width="1379" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5KAWnOxbCFHEGt4-eY4lcReqBK3ychA1ciUAEpzWqL52G-eA9JKKbeQtWcMzr85ny13u_7RFKYjDayYRxr7aU1kCiXEiMZoeUzJO3XQiOsxcl7LxP4UEJDP0frVTCzmCOKUZdMbi4Nf_hLtzBPwG5tmouVCu_xBle5ZVMqECwqXV0ZJpR_M8cXLciOU8/w400-h315/Fig%206.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><i>Figure 6
Stonehenge Plan with chords. Based on figures 2 and 5</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><i><br /></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This simple diagram with the suggestion
that the architects of Stonehenge used the geometry of a sexagesimal circle may
form the basis of further speculation and insights.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><b>Acknowledgement:</b>
The invaluable help from Simon Banton in sharing his knowledge, skills, and
enthusiasm. This paper is self-funded.</span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><b>References:</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">BANTON, S, et al.
2014 Parchmarks at Stonehenge, July 2013. Antiquity. 2014;88(341):733-739.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">Banton S,
2024. WhatsApp message 3 January 2024<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">DAW, T
2015 The Twisted Trilithon – Stone 56 and its Skew,
WANHM vol. 108 (2015 pp15-24)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">JONES I, 1655.
The most notable antiquity of Great Britain, vulgarly called Stone-Heng on
Salisbury plain, London<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">SMITH, J. 1771. Choir
Gaur: The Grand Orrery of the Ancient Druids, Commonly Called Stonehenge on
Salisbury Plain, Astronomically Explained and Mathematically Proved to be a
Temple Erected in the Earliest Ages ... United Kingdom<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">STUKELEY W, 1740.
Stonehenge, a Temple Restor'd to the British Druids, London : Printed for W.
Innys and R. Manby, London<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";">WOOD, John. 1747
Choir Gaure, Vulgarly called Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, Oxford<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-family: "Courier New";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-81220190150197650602024-01-09T08:29:00.000+00:002024-01-09T08:29:44.335+00:00The All Cannings PloughThe Museum of English Rural Life, Reading has a plough from All Cannings in its collection. It was used on what was my farm many years ago. It has a wooden mouldboard, probably made of elm. By coincidence a photo of the plough is part of the Salisbury Museum collection.<div><br /></div><div>Wooden mouldboards were favoured by the ploughmen, Albert and his son George Tilley, when the clay was wet and heavy, they claimed it didn't stick as much.</div><div><br /></div><div>A story I was told was that when a new mouldboard was sent up from the Hiscocks in the village Albert was affronted that the the "boy" was sent up to fit it. He claimed it didn't draw true so old man Hiscock was summoned to put it right. As he left the workshop he picked up a handful of shavings. After the visit Albert boasted how he knew it needed fettling, so young Hiscock asked his dad what he did. "Just scattered the shavings around".</div><div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirpkQ5bb_bFgkx1cQso18_dnH4scbSYJgAd613PzaXkLpTDEfakqBLzLjzOjg8j-Lq1pBj_euVPWd_BLFnLvs_UZDTttviiupqqy7Yo7qFxIM_jS1dmcgA-2XoFPZm3KWwIe3tkPN3u9pAPtnK2GtjCLQGtsockkyfR2l0Fm_5X3YK_Pqlv0sxT8-LWRE/s2560/Plough%202.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirpkQ5bb_bFgkx1cQso18_dnH4scbSYJgAd613PzaXkLpTDEfakqBLzLjzOjg8j-Lq1pBj_euVPWd_BLFnLvs_UZDTttviiupqqy7Yo7qFxIM_jS1dmcgA-2XoFPZm3KWwIe3tkPN3u9pAPtnK2GtjCLQGtsockkyfR2l0Fm_5X3YK_Pqlv0sxT8-LWRE/s320/Plough%202.jpeg" width="320" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Of2tlkgauZEaAZZgggns4CZ73rMNjcLZg6iufmcg7QQFWjlhD6CUxdfWiJ9Y0Bvjv0lM-7XjL6ck0eMFILMA_HKYPtzw6bddD0rtOiWJSFNGDbQLACjEmLVS7i3UQyjuME3Y0Q6N9XuLyNUy3aXpXSvUd6cx3q5iTatBL4rp76B0mTzgyzZ5bi2s8VA/s2560/Plough%201.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="2560" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Of2tlkgauZEaAZZgggns4CZ73rMNjcLZg6iufmcg7QQFWjlhD6CUxdfWiJ9Y0Bvjv0lM-7XjL6ck0eMFILMA_HKYPtzw6bddD0rtOiWJSFNGDbQLACjEmLVS7i3UQyjuME3Y0Q6N9XuLyNUy3aXpXSvUd6cx3q5iTatBL4rp76B0mTzgyzZ5bi2s8VA/s320/Plough%201.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://collections.salisburymuseum.org.uk/object/SBYWM:2011R.14.222">https://collections.salisburymuseum.org.uk/object/SBYWM:2011R.14.222</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSmJUqTr0DUGlng5o7lpilJg1nadtdvZcJ8ad950A8hbokZMRdcuXcQ9pUGX9ST18QXsP03-XYVwVT70DdWX7xJ6PE-LCkhwm3oJHn0p4Ehsbmz16PmgkTKBsJabBj4QWZ_E_aoQttiJHzxFvFARWgnPUamwlnk69ldFQhrGWy83vA2mEL_R7iNrzyao/s1525/Plough%203.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1218" data-original-width="1525" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSmJUqTr0DUGlng5o7lpilJg1nadtdvZcJ8ad950A8hbokZMRdcuXcQ9pUGX9ST18QXsP03-XYVwVT70DdWX7xJ6PE-LCkhwm3oJHn0p4Ehsbmz16PmgkTKBsJabBj4QWZ_E_aoQttiJHzxFvFARWgnPUamwlnk69ldFQhrGWy83vA2mEL_R7iNrzyao/s320/Plough%203.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="goog_1916438981"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.reading.ac.uk/adlib/Details/collect/2569">https://www.reading.ac.uk/adlib/Details/collect/2569</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4DLuc43Ea7kYkEevoKWS7Bg5YHaJ2lIPfIbu4NI7t_stKz7q9JfljpNVUVD_WaDKpiuFPrigqRoJ39B_kc5Lf1JKuTBnDAgjJ02fZMJL8iwMB_Q61OGt704GXTGYEbR_7-fZOOzcIJ9XiHAYmN73z1L-t_TQ7Pk-7hZX9oNCG0MLlJfsR6y4Wr0opds/s1199/plough%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="801" data-original-width="1199" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4DLuc43Ea7kYkEevoKWS7Bg5YHaJ2lIPfIbu4NI7t_stKz7q9JfljpNVUVD_WaDKpiuFPrigqRoJ39B_kc5Lf1JKuTBnDAgjJ02fZMJL8iwMB_Q61OGt704GXTGYEbR_7-fZOOzcIJ9XiHAYmN73z1L-t_TQ7Pk-7hZX9oNCG0MLlJfsR6y4Wr0opds/s320/plough%204.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: Effra-Regular, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: left;">Champion ploughman Nelson Tamblin demonstrates his skills at the World Ploughing Championships in Shillingford, Oxfordshire, in 1956, using a plough drawn from The MERL collection (MERL 60/1475).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #595959; font-family: Effra-Regular, sans-serif;"><a href="https://merl.reading.ac.uk/blog/2024/01/ploughs-and-ploughing-some-reflections-from-the-headland/">https://merl.reading.ac.uk/blog/2024/01/ploughs-and-ploughing-some-reflections-from-the-headland/</a></span></span></div><br /><div><br /></div>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-31663775205065399952024-01-07T20:56:00.002+00:002024-01-07T21:02:30.226+00:00The Marshes of the Pewsey Vale<p>The route the sarsens, and maybe the bluestones, were brought across the Pewsey Vale to Salisbury Plain was, in my opinion, largely governed by the necessity of staying on the firmer dryer land.</p><p>The present damp weather provides a snapshot of the land still liable to flooding despite the many drainage and canalisations of rivers. These are the remnants of the large marshy areas that filled the vale.</p><p>My suggested route from West Woods to the top of Redhorn Hill via Marden looks the best.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq4ljjLNt_TeK1QXDfpu9RqPTy5jyv8DlXYAW_dUbZI-uagfPYzjatFvPAcGPOiUS3VoC3RinTnKv2QCu-gTYhChm4ccr4X_DeIFueitOQBYlwA7ufGP3zei07GlpkYuxQa4xvlnOVQy0Aq4fu6yItFXYkd8NxkSQ_tRzrCf9OEyV7UHN0C-ODOhhPUuU/s2024/Pewsey%20Vale%20Flood%20Risk%20Map.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1177" data-original-width="2024" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq4ljjLNt_TeK1QXDfpu9RqPTy5jyv8DlXYAW_dUbZI-uagfPYzjatFvPAcGPOiUS3VoC3RinTnKv2QCu-gTYhChm4ccr4X_DeIFueitOQBYlwA7ufGP3zei07GlpkYuxQa4xvlnOVQy0Aq4fu6yItFXYkd8NxkSQ_tRzrCf9OEyV7UHN0C-ODOhhPUuU/s320/Pewsey%20Vale%20Flood%20Risk%20Map.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSlEwKNvN55-IGQpWSWepeMQjIDqDdBb7fL2moUtSlALh9pA6jmB5Mj7MTa2jPXlMJ5L0xJTHx4oi9KneQE4qcTDiHxAakpgaQZCLEpf-ADi_sXMZC4QPZCON79pnlPsYpc7QypZQ1krmIFhPTUSq-NTVUbT8PypBUj5H4BA0h9ReA6irMZAHkVNR9Tnk/s2024/Pewsey%20Vale%20Flood%20Risk%20Satellite.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1250" data-original-width="2024" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSlEwKNvN55-IGQpWSWepeMQjIDqDdBb7fL2moUtSlALh9pA6jmB5Mj7MTa2jPXlMJ5L0xJTHx4oi9KneQE4qcTDiHxAakpgaQZCLEpf-ADi_sXMZC4QPZCON79pnlPsYpc7QypZQ1krmIFhPTUSq-NTVUbT8PypBUj5H4BA0h9ReA6irMZAHkVNR9Tnk/s320/Pewsey%20Vale%20Flood%20Risk%20Satellite.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>Source <a href="https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/">https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/</a></p>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-45994620937780753022024-01-05T06:01:00.002+00:002024-01-05T07:00:05.899+00:00The Limeslade Bay Erratic discovery<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJVgD87hyHS9cVC0jr64Ja0RlqWfWchGRqdGSKphZqNjKlc7_MDx3fCV0lUSd8_XeqUQEWYHeUAbdcc9VdoUv4lvGZDEe_uu3blmw9wreYMn-sPvAS8hUv-044BVkvks28kNSX_IWPFdbSAH7nzV0iil5h96lQoH59CX4O57xCqlHQ9TkkUqPXmtACT0/s1024/Erratic%20Birthday.jpg"><img alt="Limeslade Bay Glacial Erratic" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJVgD87hyHS9cVC0jr64Ja0RlqWfWchGRqdGSKphZqNjKlc7_MDx3fCV0lUSd8_XeqUQEWYHeUAbdcc9VdoUv4lvGZDEe_uu3blmw9wreYMn-sPvAS8hUv-044BVkvks28kNSX_IWPFdbSAH7nzV0iil5h96lQoH59CX4O57xCqlHQ9TkkUqPXmtACT0/w320-h320/Erratic%20Birthday.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Upon a shore where waves in tempest churn,</div><div style="text-align: center;">A hulking mass of stone, unyielding, lay,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Its surface rough, by ocean's wrath in turn</div><div style="text-align: center;">Made stark and bare, where storms hold their sway.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">Within its heart, a tumult seemed to bide,</div><div style="text-align: center;">A hollow drum where roars and rumbles deep</div><div style="text-align: center;">Did echo forth, as though history's tide</div><div style="text-align: center;">Had found a voice within its stony sleep.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">And yet, for all the sound and fury pent</div><div style="text-align: center;">Within its depths, no meaning could be found,</div><div style="text-align: center;">No whispered lore, no message heaven-sent,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Just empty noise upon the wind-whipped ground.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">So lies the stone, a monument to strife,</div><div style="text-align: center;">A hollow shell where echoes mock at life.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.pembroke-today.co.uk/news/giant-glacial-erratic-hailed-as-missing-piece-of-bluestone-puzzle-505195">https://www.pembroke-today.co.uk/news/giant-glacial-erratic-hailed-as-missing-piece-of-bluestone-puzzle-505195</a></div><div><i>A giant bluestone erratic just discovered near Mumbles, on the south Gower coast, has been hailed as one of the most important glacial discoveries of the last century since it proves beyond doubt that the Irish Sea Glacier was capable of carrying large monoliths of dolerite rock from Pembrokeshire up the Bristol Channel towards Stonehenge.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Two years today after this wonderful discovery of a large erratic deposited on a rocky coast by an ice floe we still haven't been allowed sight of the analysis which may reveal where it was plucked from to be dropped in Limeslade Bay. We continue to await with interest. </div>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-47764598618079744742023-12-31T14:53:00.000+00:002023-12-31T14:53:00.259+00:00The Ups and Downs of Ice Flow<p> I am told there is some confusion being spread about glaciers and ice sheets flowing uphill. Contrary to the impression some people have got they obey the simple law of gravity, they flow downhill.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But when they are constrained in a passageway either by mountains or other large amounts of ice of course the flow can rise up and over obstacles because of the pressure from the weight of the ice above. The total mass is flowing downhill even if parts of it are going up.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A simple experiment will show it how works, find a short flexible but reasonably stiff string of beads. Provided the are constrained in tube or valley they can easily be pushed over obstacles and will happily bump over ridges on their way downhill.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-7Eiaokm9KolB7nwtSmGiiItxGy9uRheWEVz0NFVQJa_3ayJTrUZdmb9Ytkyf53uFKWHUr0bXa52tob7yATbPQ3VUjESfCNlPh9_5GwPxqZBj5ZfTRNUVFRNXTNZJb0bYWQmJaPW5uHxeOWz2ExYawj38IIgWJ2duVCnYwgOOf3tzyGCC8pttk1bqNE/s600/Beads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="501" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4-7Eiaokm9KolB7nwtSmGiiItxGy9uRheWEVz0NFVQJa_3ayJTrUZdmb9Ytkyf53uFKWHUr0bXa52tob7yATbPQ3VUjESfCNlPh9_5GwPxqZBj5ZfTRNUVFRNXTNZJb0bYWQmJaPW5uHxeOWz2ExYawj38IIgWJ2duVCnYwgOOf3tzyGCC8pttk1bqNE/s320/Beads.jpg" width="267" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The key is that their lateral movement is controlled. Now consider the broad dry Bristol Channel during the last ice age, there are no mountains and, as it is at the edge of the ice sheet, no deep layers of ice to constrain any flowing ice. It will follow the downward slope. Try pushing your beads across an incline with a lip at the far edge. Down the slippery slope they will go, not deep into Somerset.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLPKiSUC943Nl_0Q_NBTH5GwFLEPBflZ9s1zABBcjKO-66NoFimB30_U6H_NvuVqvN8M1NPe4DD0pr78qZ8v5cZB_Hw5S-MWKpqkm7VyWB6Spgo0lzcCylg3YshrGS28sKUftSB6uNJWPr6sIZiwvfCcQ5fKZePkDqBiMjVLifq-rEgbF2C8tGoEiLnes/s850/Bristol%20Channel%20Depth%20with%20arrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="850" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLPKiSUC943Nl_0Q_NBTH5GwFLEPBflZ9s1zABBcjKO-66NoFimB30_U6H_NvuVqvN8M1NPe4DD0pr78qZ8v5cZB_Hw5S-MWKpqkm7VyWB6Spgo0lzcCylg3YshrGS28sKUftSB6uNJWPr6sIZiwvfCcQ5fKZePkDqBiMjVLifq-rEgbF2C8tGoEiLnes/s320/Bristol%20Channel%20Depth%20with%20arrow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><br /><p></p>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-56988619263549965102023-12-28T19:38:00.004+00:002023-12-28T21:23:57.250+00:00Recent Ice Dropped Boulders<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Icebergs which may have dropped debris, including boulders, sailed to our latitudes in the last <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age" target="_blank">little ice age</a>, it wasn't just Frost Fairs on the Thames. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwIL95attT9tYrnADTAhcGvR76v5Fh7cxL4HTo7zK4pOe-5PdgWw3FqcUJeIYaaYE9sK5jS1ypSHzDr2MYJte08HhBS1nQ6KLo23Y4VH98Fp8WzmlY0-D1jviPIGkTqPfaxkzBeggSw2Ad3caB0WGj-d1l-j5z2ErMXzoB9zTc9uO9FzVgJKMb1KMzc6E/s700/Cornelis_Jacobsz_van_Culemborch_-_Kruiend_ijs_te_Delfshaven_-_11113_-_Museum_Rotterdam.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="700" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwIL95attT9tYrnADTAhcGvR76v5Fh7cxL4HTo7zK4pOe-5PdgWw3FqcUJeIYaaYE9sK5jS1ypSHzDr2MYJte08HhBS1nQ6KLo23Y4VH98Fp8WzmlY0-D1jviPIGkTqPfaxkzBeggSw2Ad3caB0WGj-d1l-j5z2ErMXzoB9zTc9uO9FzVgJKMb1KMzc6E/s320/Cornelis_Jacobsz_van_Culemborch_-_Kruiend_ijs_te_Delfshaven_-_11113_-_Museum_Rotterdam.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Iceberg at the western harbour head of Delfshaven on January 2, 1565 during the cold wave in the Little Ice Age - Cornelis Jacobsz van Culemborch 1565 - (The grounded iceberg was measured at more than 6 meters high and almost 70 meters long). <span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://museumrotterdam.nl/collectie/item/11113">https://museumrotterdam.nl/collectie/item/11113</a></span><br /> <p></p><div>So maybe some of those ice dropped boulders on our coasts haven't been there that long. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr75MkmNUOhzoGqlaThTZSUoOChJTdjdtJ0BlTzGBR9DQqboLL1APZuK05he3zNDQy92adFfZrjZfg-3I2iRkcGOpWH0VamHUDCiHWC_UuEWSqGTeK99-DAFME_RK0HzqWaG4l28l0Gd7mC8PIctXMyUZNHm3EaDufMosOQka0aVfA9wcure-qR3SZUpU/s1024/tudor%20woodcut.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr75MkmNUOhzoGqlaThTZSUoOChJTdjdtJ0BlTzGBR9DQqboLL1APZuK05he3zNDQy92adFfZrjZfg-3I2iRkcGOpWH0VamHUDCiHWC_UuEWSqGTeK99-DAFME_RK0HzqWaG4l28l0Gd7mC8PIctXMyUZNHm3EaDufMosOQka0aVfA9wcure-qR3SZUpU/s320/tudor%20woodcut.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As Bing imagines it.</span></div>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-87561015654030915022023-12-28T19:01:00.005+00:002023-12-28T19:01:56.890+00:00Bristol Channel Boulders - No Ice Required <i>On 30 January 1607, around noon, the coasts of the Bristol Channel suffered from unexpectedly high floodings that broke the coastal defences in several places. Low-lying places in Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire, and South Wales were flooded. The devastation was particularly severe on the Welsh side, extending from Laugharne in Carmarthenshire to above Chepstow in Monmouthshire. Cardiff was the most badly affected town, with the foundations of St Mary's Church destroyed.
It is estimated that 2,000 or more people were drowned, houses and villages were swept away, an estimated 200 square miles (51,800 ha) of farmland inundated, and livestock destroyed,wrecking the local economy along the coasts of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary.</i> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1607_Bristol_Channel_floods" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1607_Bristol_Channel_floods</a><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7maRP5pcE8soyqTHdJ2N5dmzT_1J6jOxZ1DruJz1vdRBL4KWsgZQw92RxDW-lJzVnHbfzHx50WUD0cgf7b9XoGP7FH9a8XUZ3b1EUEK-G3XsNuOmTEJT-eJnpzxl7mt0xmVv35N4_d_mNFWRX8YYuMMtZ_2mhji_2T9s0rp409rCl5hFNlWlaiIoGeZI/s642/Tsunami%20leaflet.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="482" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7maRP5pcE8soyqTHdJ2N5dmzT_1J6jOxZ1DruJz1vdRBL4KWsgZQw92RxDW-lJzVnHbfzHx50WUD0cgf7b9XoGP7FH9a8XUZ3b1EUEK-G3XsNuOmTEJT-eJnpzxl7mt0xmVv35N4_d_mNFWRX8YYuMMtZ_2mhji_2T9s0rp409rCl5hFNlWlaiIoGeZI/s320/Tsunami%20leaflet.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div>But there was another legacy of the flooding, thought to be a tsunami caused by an underwater earthquake, it moved boulders on the edges of the Bristol Channel.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.academia.edu/1966079/Catastrophic_wave_erosion_Bristol_Channel_United_Kingdom_impact_of_tsunami" target="_blank">Bryant, Edward A., and Simon K. Haslett. “Catastrophic Wave Erosion, Bristol Channel, United Kingdom: Impact of Tsunami?” The Journal of Geology 115, no. 3 (2007): 253–69. doi:10.1086/512750.</a></div><div><br /></div><div>A very detailed paper which explains the positioning of many Bristol Channel boulders as tsunami relics. Calling them all glacial erratics may be simply wrong.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWkKhjvocLWIvjU_JB-I2-cvtc1yR_WdJHd7WLntKsI7Y0KCARsDwF6ZAGTvxHuzcwzTSy__ZD7RsQ1byv_Ogp4lD_1utHY5qW7JPsVQ2J6jn_ZHRjc69t6FDd5a1Dqg26CGCUIqs-PfAMzLxKLSZ3UmAh7K32AdzrOBde4pFrB1zvHyX0vLLiC5PddPQ/s818/Tsunami%20Boulder%20table.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="818" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWkKhjvocLWIvjU_JB-I2-cvtc1yR_WdJHd7WLntKsI7Y0KCARsDwF6ZAGTvxHuzcwzTSy__ZD7RsQ1byv_Ogp4lD_1utHY5qW7JPsVQ2J6jn_ZHRjc69t6FDd5a1Dqg26CGCUIqs-PfAMzLxKLSZ3UmAh7K32AdzrOBde4pFrB1zvHyX0vLLiC5PddPQ/s320/Tsunami%20Boulder%20table.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-74715710221054126752023-12-28T12:08:00.001+00:002023-12-28T12:08:29.159+00:00Glacial Gradients and Gravity<div>There is a suggestion that the glacial gradient from South Wales to Stonehenge was sufficient for ice to flow along it:</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilWtXEmtSINrsAE2l_tDHrC7Z1G2ioQ8aqyjGZ4bH4zHrkIZN5l8U301OMZkrUZVDuR5Ew-TwiOk5V4EKu3BNIfzNkwHHsBqIa2jUCFYiSw32ywoS-P9PexbZPBrq62EMTAHmv1rDIwMJD5ISfGLiCGL8PCd4in_26MzTe9WH2kOibgqUCWA5suFAyayI/s506/Glacial%20routes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="249" data-original-width="506" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilWtXEmtSINrsAE2l_tDHrC7Z1G2ioQ8aqyjGZ4bH4zHrkIZN5l8U301OMZkrUZVDuR5Ew-TwiOk5V4EKu3BNIfzNkwHHsBqIa2jUCFYiSw32ywoS-P9PexbZPBrq62EMTAHmv1rDIwMJD5ISfGLiCGL8PCd4in_26MzTe9WH2kOibgqUCWA5suFAyayI/s320/Glacial%20routes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;">From https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/</div><span><br />Just a reminder that during the last ice age the Bristol Channel was above sea level and was a deep wide valley. Glaciers flow downhill so rather than the ice floating up the channel and landing on the Somerset coast from south Pembrokeshire it would have followed the gradient. <br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkrPgzVeens9NQ33pNXRayu5zrdJNoTMiq8Y7xqFwutnK1qRdtiM0lpj0Wu16vlYD26jHrxDG2Hpcvj6FebAjAyTDrsed1_PNIY3mu6TeMReOp12fZsXzTjQA2SdAX_ETBE60-NHkm0ij5XH9kkqzGZw_qe-ERG9KE47zAH-kQafbJWqVNUmAOcoyF-aA/s850/Bristol%20Channel%20Depth%20with%20arrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="850" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkrPgzVeens9NQ33pNXRayu5zrdJNoTMiq8Y7xqFwutnK1qRdtiM0lpj0Wu16vlYD26jHrxDG2Hpcvj6FebAjAyTDrsed1_PNIY3mu6TeMReOp12fZsXzTjQA2SdAX_ETBE60-NHkm0ij5XH9kkqzGZw_qe-ERG9KE47zAH-kQafbJWqVNUmAOcoyF-aA/s320/Bristol%20Channel%20Depth%20with%20arrow.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: xx-small;">
Figure based on: "Location and bathymetry of the Bristol Channel. Contours are depths in metres relative to mean sea level" from "Impact of Tidal Energy Converter (TEC) Array Operation on Sediment Dynamics" - Scientific Figure on ResearchGate. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Location-and-bathymetry-of-the-Bristol-Channel-Contours-are-depths-in-metres-relative-to_fig4_260052339 </span>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-91959707980307168992023-12-28T11:45:00.005+00:002023-12-28T12:14:48.344+00:00Unpredictable weather not unprecedented again.<p> A year ago The National Trust warned of the dangers of the new norm of "tumultuous weather" - <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/services/media/weather-and-wildlife-2022" target="_blank">https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/services/media/weather-and-wildlife-2022</a> This year the National Trust is: "sounding the alarm for UK wildlife as the loss of predictable weather patterns and traditional seasonal shifts causes chaos for nature." <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/services/media/weather-and-wildlife-2023" target="_blank">https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/services/media/weather-and-wildlife-2023</a> </p>
As a worrier myself, and as this endangers ancient sites, I was intrigued enough to quickly look to at the historical records to see if the unpredictability was unprecedented. <div><br /></div><div>My approach was to graph the difference between one year's temperature, or rainfall, record and the previous year's. </div><div><br /></div><div>I used the UK's Met Office records. <a href="https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/data/download.html" target="_blank">https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/data/download.html </a> and <a href="https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadukp/data/download.html">https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadukp/data/download.html</a> </div><div><br /></div><div>So for instance 2022's mean temperature was 10 deg C and 2021's 10.3 so I record that as a drop of 0.3 for 2022. Obviously the larger the gains and drops the more "unpredictable" the weather is. </div><div><br /></div><div>Last year's post is here: <a href="https://www.sarsen.org/2022/12/is-this-years-tumultuous-weather-set-to.html">https://www.sarsen.org/2022/12/is-this-years-tumultuous-weather-set-to.html</a> and has links to data sources and results.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have updated the data and there is no change in the pattern, the amount of unpredictability by my definition seems to be same. There doesn't seem to be any evidence that the amount of unpredictability is unprecedented or unusual so far. Against a background of rising temperatures this is good news and long may it continue.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAa8Dp2J1Z8cAfseZxuXqc4qDDesh2fMtBSplcPIwMtTkWUWc8Yy-SFYO3XSHQpQksvIWJmdHZsEyOejYvhBgUDhDon9fY0LaAshTlREV4s_eEY6J3h2S9sQeMW0R6UX4SkGAma7BaP8jcDT86hUIx9iGAkHRdg4PrXeMcYgIOkVXunVjjsVuAs76xfA/s1714/2023%20Max%20Temp%20Diff.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="1714" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAa8Dp2J1Z8cAfseZxuXqc4qDDesh2fMtBSplcPIwMtTkWUWc8Yy-SFYO3XSHQpQksvIWJmdHZsEyOejYvhBgUDhDon9fY0LaAshTlREV4s_eEY6J3h2S9sQeMW0R6UX4SkGAma7BaP8jcDT86hUIx9iGAkHRdg4PrXeMcYgIOkVXunVjjsVuAs76xfA/s320/2023%20Max%20Temp%20Diff.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIh2eONp6ufF4wF7h8XqfT4_0GW10lBbyNTqp1U8rhdi014CEtWpPwnYsQqfndugnp-fmjDnFXC-1gYOPEaFDQhAbeSM9yR0nN64DnlMin9LBxF-nA_dlzalBlGmPjjJ8mgl84nu-yiEMyTriVo0_SuDdabm5vUzr2HD10NgjLm9VKb618BlcdCNv7mlw/s1712/2023%20Rainfall%20Diff.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1128" data-original-width="1712" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIh2eONp6ufF4wF7h8XqfT4_0GW10lBbyNTqp1U8rhdi014CEtWpPwnYsQqfndugnp-fmjDnFXC-1gYOPEaFDQhAbeSM9yR0nN64DnlMin9LBxF-nA_dlzalBlGmPjjJ8mgl84nu-yiEMyTriVo0_SuDdabm5vUzr2HD10NgjLm9VKb618BlcdCNv7mlw/s320/2023%20Rainfall%20Diff.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>If anyone is interested in the Data or more graphs please get in touch.</div><div><br /></div><div> </div>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-57990383575376188582023-12-24T09:26:00.002+00:002023-12-24T09:29:03.786+00:00Debunking Pigs From Scotland<p> Last year I did a round-up of the Isotope evidence for "neolithic pigs from Scotland" - <a href="https://www.sarsen.org/2022/10/strontium-values-reappraisal-south-west.html">https://www.sarsen.org/2022/10/strontium-values-reappraisal-south-west.html</a> . </p><p>I missed another paper that came out a fortnight later:</p><div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #202020; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 9px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0274831" target="_blank">Applying lead (Pb) isotopes to explore mobility in humans and animals - Evan et al</a></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #202020; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 9px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="color: #0f1419; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr Gordon Barclay kindly pointed this out to me and so I should update the record: </span></span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #202020; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 9px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgLkizsngIAmUKXKlk0Fga-nsGjXyIVDX7yeFNWNqgpC9wcERErxOdjXGT75Hc5Ti28sGJxOOxyDb0WFaU-P9qPzzDKlYo0EWKZJbmvNjOIuItzVSjoCdx3LRYNnGhYI7egfiyg1IQRPY7BfGZ-O1MH8RdtgO4_rFbx0jAADzUYlv95SXE2By56WryCbE/s601/Barclay%20Tweet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="601" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgLkizsngIAmUKXKlk0Fga-nsGjXyIVDX7yeFNWNqgpC9wcERErxOdjXGT75Hc5Ti28sGJxOOxyDb0WFaU-P9qPzzDKlYo0EWKZJbmvNjOIuItzVSjoCdx3LRYNnGhYI7egfiyg1IQRPY7BfGZ-O1MH8RdtgO4_rFbx0jAADzUYlv95SXE2By56WryCbE/s320/Barclay%20Tweet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #202020; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 9px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">The paper is open access, so please read it. The key passage is:</span></div><p><span style="olor: #202020; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggS6yyCo02J8FAYozQEUcDZ034ium8SyKNMJJSkobzjc4W9mAJGkL0rtAmSiaRwp3KDTswYX-K1koZbhWXur3-zKv3Ejq63xnKE8_lNUy8nD7AOHpcTq-QbK-ZI7kec4sGe-OQvr4rEq-GFWdzwrH_8DPJNLrwXntkiGpl9lyzZxQsjkBOZw7Z9pL5J_A/s2597/Iapetus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2597" data-original-width="2100" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggS6yyCo02J8FAYozQEUcDZ034ium8SyKNMJJSkobzjc4W9mAJGkL0rtAmSiaRwp3KDTswYX-K1koZbhWXur3-zKv3Ejq63xnKE8_lNUy8nD7AOHpcTq-QbK-ZI7kec4sGe-OQvr4rEq-GFWdzwrH_8DPJNLrwXntkiGpl9lyzZxQsjkBOZw7Z9pL5J_A/s320/Iapetus.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;"><i>Key to this study is our ability to distinguish between northern and southern British Pb sources and this can be achieved because of differences in the underlying geology between these two parts of Great Britain. The Pb isotope composition of rocks and minerals tends to be dominated by major geological tectonic events such as mountain building, which is accompanied by metamorphism and the intrusion of granites, the heat from which drives the re-mobilisation of Pb to create ore deposits.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="text-align: start;">The junction between these two tectonic plates </span><span style="text-align: start;">is called the Iapetus Suture and it runs on a NE–SW line from Berwick-upon-Tweed to the Solway Firth and projects into Ireland.</span><span style="text-align: start;">The underlying geology to the north and south of this suture is fundamentally different; the Laurentian basement, to the north, is geologically much older (> 3000Ma–c. 1750Ma) and is depleted in uranium (U)</span><span style="text-align: start;"> whereas the Avalonia basement in the south is geologically much younger (c. 700Ma)</span><span style="text-align: start;">, and this means the Pb isotope compositions, related to the basements of the two areas, are different. As this geological boundary essentially defines the modern political border of Scotland with England, it provides a potential method of discriminating between Scotland and the rest of Great Britain.</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #202020; font-family: "Open Sans", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-align: left;">The conclusion is quite clear, in their opinion: </span></div></div><p></p><p><span style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><i>"We have tested this application using a sample of Neolithic pig enamel from sites in southern England, some of which, because of Sr isotope composition, could not be excluded from an origin in northern Britain. Pb isotope data from the teeth excludes Scotland as a source but the diverse range of Pb isotope results, combined with other isotope proxies, are consistent with the animals being raised on a variety of lithologies of diverse age and from variable environments."</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So is this end of the idea of neolithic links between Scotland and Stonehenge, I wouldn't bet on it.</span></p><p><span style="color: #202020; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></p>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-35371235608426369812023-12-21T13:14:00.002+00:002023-12-21T13:14:55.743+00:00Laying out the Sarsen horseshoe using triangles.<p>From William Stukeley onwards the geometry underlying the arrangement of the stones of Stonehenge has lead to many different diagrams, usually with arcs and sometimes with triangles and hexagons.</p><p>Quick doodles based on the triangle I deduced from Tim Darvill's work: <a href="https://www.sarsen.org/2023/05/ding-dong-over-stonehenge-timekeeping.html">https://www.sarsen.org/2023/05/ding-dong-over-stonehenge-timekeeping.html</a> has lead me to simple diagram which matches the geometry of the flat faces of the trilithons in the inner horseshoe. It seems different to the historical other diagrams I have seen but I would be surprised if it is new. If you know of a prior example please tell me.</p><p>Please excuse a rough diagram:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeR_c2a8yX1LeU2-IMVwIxtEAuTdOKNJhpnnjY5waw8yzfJrL3lXd1CGVL_3qd2vQAelFkX5kRj1XOQEjmZuSz7sBy7H4cNLhu56eEFoxsww-cOS_doHpudLpfamlcjtlg_6tuuDVvISnKI1_gGVq1sUdIgNAVkykKe781TE1L1GKMq_uNncPM4PoAwmE/s850/Triangles%20Horsehoe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="850" data-original-width="803" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeR_c2a8yX1LeU2-IMVwIxtEAuTdOKNJhpnnjY5waw8yzfJrL3lXd1CGVL_3qd2vQAelFkX5kRj1XOQEjmZuSz7sBy7H4cNLhu56eEFoxsww-cOS_doHpudLpfamlcjtlg_6tuuDVvISnKI1_gGVq1sUdIgNAVkykKe781TE1L1GKMq_uNncPM4PoAwmE/s320/Triangles%20Horsehoe.jpg" width="302" /></a></div><p><br /></p>But you say; "Tim, you endlessly witter on about the middle trilithon and the Altar Stone being at 80 degrees, rather than 90, to the central axis of the monument".<p></p><p>Behold, I respond, if you turn the triangle one gap rather than two it gives a 12 degree twist which is close enough for government work.</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1A5vpqM9zLBhi5k1aZe9E2-yD2CMBifLv9Sfx6OTepYhc9xbeGPQXlIHVdlDc1R-WtsA0uKnzYYCWGb21xrqt9SrJfcSzNyaKMxBxXYqk9VdkfYrG1ig53DmdZ-c6mFIn6MrnQYvSSmcyICrzERMwYYZg91TBZv4mJ4s9oRsHCaBJSmNJ__oa13oAMpA/s4252/Triangle%20Horseshoe%2080deg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4252" data-original-width="4016" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1A5vpqM9zLBhi5k1aZe9E2-yD2CMBifLv9Sfx6OTepYhc9xbeGPQXlIHVdlDc1R-WtsA0uKnzYYCWGb21xrqt9SrJfcSzNyaKMxBxXYqk9VdkfYrG1ig53DmdZ-c6mFIn6MrnQYvSSmcyICrzERMwYYZg91TBZv4mJ4s9oRsHCaBJSmNJ__oa13oAMpA/s320/Triangle%20Horseshoe%2080deg.jpg" width="302" /></a></div><br /><br /> <p></p>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-58278062521366048912023-11-08T01:00:00.039+00:002023-11-08T05:15:18.719+00:00Led Zeppelin’s missing photograph has been found.<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTKiXGeSYm_KngSHOMG00PEe7ENWHyqRelyfntAF40JN-hXdtckN7TNiBAEjS7TcrzET0vtVTfUcTsa-1YpD1k2wyC74cu3OHTNePt8-zvAKsE8WI4Ex3-t75NVuRg1rZo387q89JsB6MFe9dDYs9RSFut0KQUiYBtVS5BVemq7YaNJQ4IMRYjAU50cg/s1205/PR%20Picture.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1205" data-original-width="821" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOTKiXGeSYm_KngSHOMG00PEe7ENWHyqRelyfntAF40JN-hXdtckN7TNiBAEjS7TcrzET0vtVTfUcTsa-1YpD1k2wyC74cu3OHTNePt8-zvAKsE8WI4Ex3-t75NVuRg1rZo387q89JsB6MFe9dDYs9RSFut0KQUiYBtVS5BVemq7YaNJQ4IMRYjAU50cg/s320/PR%20Picture.jpg" width="218" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The original of the iconic photograph on
the cover of Led </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Zeppelin</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> IV was recently discovered and will soon be on display at
the Wiltshire Museum.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Visitors will for the first time be able to clearly see the face that
has stared out from millions of albums across the world.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kAD7hxZCqtxP2hJJqychrSjhifnJJzrFbtgdKzmUXT3CRVe1DTiD_ykkkK9Lpxtn7CjoJwtfYHYLSh_maF6HDFojNXXnZReWm3TUrzyUHwpBuZyd_2L4Qlc9QroT-D5gzeu5Yax9IbOv3EKLwgxj20QSgQPEIEjb8okxfcF6WQVpOTTPw1d4pmF86lk/s512/Wiltshire%20Thatcher%20Face%20PR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="429" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9kAD7hxZCqtxP2hJJqychrSjhifnJJzrFbtgdKzmUXT3CRVe1DTiD_ykkkK9Lpxtn7CjoJwtfYHYLSh_maF6HDFojNXXnZReWm3TUrzyUHwpBuZyd_2L4Qlc9QroT-D5gzeu5Yax9IbOv3EKLwgxj20QSgQPEIEjb8okxfcF6WQVpOTTPw1d4pmF86lk/s320/Wiltshire%20Thatcher%20Face%20PR.jpg" width="268" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">After conservation work a</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">n exhibition ‘The Wiltshire Thatcher: A Photographic Journey through Victorian Wessex’ is scheduled to open on Saturday 6th April 2024 and run through until Sunday 1st September 2024</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The photograph was spotted in a Victorian album at a
public auction by Brian Edwards, a Visiting Research Fellow with The Regional
History Centre, UWE Bristol.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The mystery of who the figure was been solved after
half a century.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">He was a thatcher from Wiltshire, Lot
Long (1823 -1893) from Mere.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Led Zeppelin IV</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The untitled album, usually known as IV, was released on November 8, 1971, and has sold more than
37 million copies worldwide.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The album was Classic Rock’s Greatest Album of All
Time - </span><a href="https://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/classicrock.htm"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">https://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/steveparker/classicrock.htm</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"> and remains Led Zeppelin’s ‘most streamed album
today.’ </span><a href="https://musicdatablog.com.ar/en/ranked-albums/led-zeppelin-discography-streaming/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">https://musicdatablog.com.ar/en/ranked-albums/led-zeppelin-discography-streaming/</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The album’s cover artwork was radically absent of
any indication of the musicians or a title but featured the iconic framed
image, often been referred to as a painting, which </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">was discovered by Robert Plant in an antique
shop near Jimmy Page’s house in Pangbourne, Berkshire.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The framed colour image of an elderly man carrying
a large bundle of hazel sticks on his back will be recognised worldwide. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Closer inspection reveals this framed image was a
coloured photograph, the whereabouts of which is now unknown.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The original, which is now in Wiltshire Museum, has tantalising fingerprints from it being copied using coloured inks.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9UePK0qOccm84alESiN99vMm_PW1AYm-ppdcoHYfD1XWaVen1hW55ypifimA22Y_76A_yV8WHRDmWicUb3ZnrnVhPqwD5mXO0h4RmFWzVyHzAC3UR1NcVOSQkUdBa0hAIuHGPBoitBNpjkwItwhRsEWatY2hxp4O5_jrkV5EBhzlVnynTJ9rU_Ep1o8/s1676/Wiltshire%20Thatcher%20Scan%20Fingerprints.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="881" data-original-width="1676" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI9UePK0qOccm84alESiN99vMm_PW1AYm-ppdcoHYfD1XWaVen1hW55ypifimA22Y_76A_yV8WHRDmWicUb3ZnrnVhPqwD5mXO0h4RmFWzVyHzAC3UR1NcVOSQkUdBa0hAIuHGPBoitBNpjkwItwhRsEWatY2hxp4O5_jrkV5EBhzlVnynTJ9rU_Ep1o8/s320/Wiltshire%20Thatcher%20Scan%20Fingerprints.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The discovery</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Victorian photograph was discovered by Brian in
an auction catalogue of sale in Dorchester, an album titled ‘<i>Reminiscences of a
visit to Shaftesbury. Whitsuntide 1892. A present to Auntie from Ernest.</i>’
Tim Daw </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">was able to attend the auction, verified it
was the genuine photo and bought it on behalf of the Museum.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCBMI0eNpdIKVe03z7XBJ_kEHdRY738wWrovm2qt5Cvn-RkGfHQlpKKgpW8COXheE04h6c5ycbKrS3MJLjnO6QytOa2GMwBh_Ws7ODbOXD3xvGV-WmvvGhzj2Q_qRiZ4vZArYN_J7PtSXWfGF3KVXeTagwgQyxCkOIBzqcDOu22etC_jMmbXzUNzW7u_U/s2567/Auction%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1541" data-original-width="2567" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCBMI0eNpdIKVe03z7XBJ_kEHdRY738wWrovm2qt5Cvn-RkGfHQlpKKgpW8COXheE04h6c5ycbKrS3MJLjnO6QytOa2GMwBh_Ws7ODbOXD3xvGV-WmvvGhzj2Q_qRiZ4vZArYN_J7PtSXWfGF3KVXeTagwgQyxCkOIBzqcDOu22etC_jMmbXzUNzW7u_U/s320/Auction%202.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu0ECFKK98axlXplst2G-pFIwUqxPlTW5DkjHtqWQ5QVH7pNcvy6arV-afDz0dLQUTHUnt9j664rI7k8_5sjn_k2e5j9I5Fqd_ALXafouWliPN4o-aXXMf08OU38M9prO3LGcoTGGFblwGEo5Drv8ip6eOcexuZdFX0vynlDPV8e9QwFQDzKZysZtCToc/s2351/Auction%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1402" data-original-width="2351" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu0ECFKK98axlXplst2G-pFIwUqxPlTW5DkjHtqWQ5QVH7pNcvy6arV-afDz0dLQUTHUnt9j664rI7k8_5sjn_k2e5j9I5Fqd_ALXafouWliPN4o-aXXMf08OU38M9prO3LGcoTGGFblwGEo5Drv8ip6eOcexuZdFX0vynlDPV8e9QwFQDzKZysZtCToc/s320/Auction%201.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Featuring exceptional photographs from Wiltshire,
Dorset and Somerset, the Victorian photograph album contained over 100
architectural views and street scenes together with a few portraits of rural
workers. Most of the photographs are titled and beneath the photograph made
famous by Led Zeppelin the photographer has written ‘<i>A Wiltshire Thatcher.</i>’ </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Brian Edwards said: “Led Zeppelin created the soundtrack that has
accompanied me since my teenage years, so I really hope the discovery of this
Victorian photograph pleases and entertains Robert, Jimmy, and John Paul.”</span> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">A photographer named Ernest</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">There was no further clue to the photographer’s
identity and either side of the turn of the century there were over 300
photographers named Ernest. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The search was on for a largely unknown Victorian
photographer of great talent and skill, probably with extensive training in
chemistry. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">A part of a signature matching with writing in the
album, suggests the needle in this haystack is Ernest Howard Farmer
(1856-1944), the first head of the School of Photography at the then newly
renamed Polytechnic Regent Street. Now part of the University of Westminster,
Farmer had worked in the same building as the instructor of photography since
1882, when it was then known as the Polytechnic Young Men’s Christian
Institute. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">The Wiltshire thatcher</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">About 50 thatchers were identified through trade
directories and the census. In the Southwest of Wiltshire, where the other
album photos were taken, only one was of a similar age to the figure in the
photograph. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">This was Lot Long (sometimes Longyear), who was
born in Mere in 1823 and died in 1893. At the time the photograph was taken,
Lot was a widower living in a small cottage on the Shaftesbury Road in Mere.
Whilst certain corroboration has not yet been found, family resemblances and
circumstantial evidence support this identification.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">Note on the exhibition </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">David Dawson, Director of Wiltshire Museum, said: “This exhibition will be a celebration of the work of Ernest Farmer, who today is little-known but was a leading figure in the development of photography as an art form. Through the exhibition, we will show how Farmer captured the spirit of people, villages and landscapes of Wiltshire and Dorset that were so much of a contrast to his life in London. It is fascinating to see how this theme of rural and urban contrasts was developed by Led Zeppelin and became the focus for this iconic album cover 70 years later.”</span></p>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-60167971940839062742023-11-02T19:45:00.007+00:002023-11-02T19:45:51.302+00:00The Stone Circles - A Field Guide - Coming April 2024<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://yale-university-press-uk.imgix.net/covers/9780300235982.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="499" height="320" src="https://yale-university-press-uk.imgix.net/covers/9780300235982.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">
The Stone Circles</h2><p></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">
A Field Guide</h4><p></p>
Colin Richards and Vicki Cummings<p></p>
<p></p>
Imprint: Yale University Press<p></p>
<p></p>
The definitive guide to the stone circles of Britain and Ireland<p></p>
<p></p>
From Stonehenge and the Ring of Brogdar to the Rollright Stones and Avebury, the British and Irish Isles are scattered with the stone circles of our prehistoric ancestors. Although there have been many theories to explain them, to this day there is no consensus about their purpose.<p></p>
<p></p>
Colin Richards and Vicki Cummings provide a clear and illuminating field guide to 424 key stone circle sites in Britain and Ireland. Organised by region, this handy volume sets out the features of these megalithic monuments, including their landscape position, construction, and physical properties. The authors take stock of cutting-edge research and recent excavations stone circles that were previously lost to time. They present new insights on the chronology, composition, and roles of different circles to transform our understanding the sites.<p></p>
<p></p>
Beautifully illustrated with photographs, maps, and plans, this is an essential guide to Britain and Ireland’s most mysterious prehistoric monuments.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
Hardcover <p></p>
9780300235982 <p></p>
Published: 23 April 2024 <p></p>
£19.99 <p></p>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-32547802684664216542023-10-27T09:49:00.011+01:002023-10-27T09:57:29.537+01:00Mynydd Preseli Lidar<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8p85FJfLJO2bjoyeETtRTqruRy6hHbIRtghl4tJeKF-LA1VtknjAnVB6A3ZOKliN5B1breMDb-lWCr1OG-anWMRgJBIOgEgMtXMtmEZi6u-s_wT_aM4Dyf0w_PSIQC2s328BcNYfFITwx4gP6Zm5RL2Cus7gCUZR-kX_ijLeDyfpOOEYKB49iN8dCx44/s1946/Preseli%20Lidar.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="1946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8p85FJfLJO2bjoyeETtRTqruRy6hHbIRtghl4tJeKF-LA1VtknjAnVB6A3ZOKliN5B1breMDb-lWCr1OG-anWMRgJBIOgEgMtXMtmEZi6u-s_wT_aM4Dyf0w_PSIQC2s328BcNYfFITwx4gP6Zm5RL2Cus7gCUZR-kX_ijLeDyfpOOEYKB49iN8dCx44/s320/Preseli%20Lidar.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click Picture to Embiggen</span> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>The drover tracks leading up over the saddle are particularly obvious. </div><div><br /></div><div> Link to explore below. (20-22 DSM works best) </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://datamap.gov.wales/maps/lidar-viewer/view#/" target="_blank">https://datamap.gov.wales/maps/lidar-viewer/view#/</a>
</div>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5787185370858787658.post-85035944565754198492023-10-12T15:52:00.002+01:002023-10-12T15:55:16.766+01:00The Stonehenge Altar Stone was probably not sourced from the Old Red Sandstone of the Anglo-Welsh Basin<p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Stonehenge Altar Stone was probably not sourced from the Old Red Sandstone of the Anglo-Welsh Basin: Time to broaden our geographic and stratigraphic horizons?,</h2><p>Richard E. Bevins, Nick J.G. Pearce, Rob A. Ixer, Duncan Pirrie, Sergio Andò, Stephen Hillier, Peter Turner, Matthew Power,</p><p>Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 51, 2023, 104215,</p><p>ISSN 2352-409X,</p><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104215">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104215</a>.</p><p>(<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X23003905">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X23003905</a>)</p><p>Abstract: Stone 80, the recumbent Altar Stone, is the largest of the Stonehenge foreign “bluestones”, mainly igneous rocks forming the inner Stonehenge circle. The Altar Stone’s anomalous lithology, a sandstone of continental origin, led to the previous suggestion of a provenance from the Old Red Sandstone (ORS) of west Wales, close to where the majority of the bluestones have been sourced (viz. the Mynydd Preseli area in west Wales) some 225 km west of Stonehenge. Building upon earlier investigations we have examined new samples from the Old Red Sandstone (ORS) within the Anglo-Welsh Basin (covering south Wales, the Welsh Borderland, the West Midlands and Somerset) using traditional optical petrography but additionally portable XRF, automated SEM-EDS and Raman Spectroscopic techniques. One of the key characteristics of the Altar Stone is its unusually high Ba content (all except one of 106 analyses have Ba > 1025 ppm), reflecting high modal baryte. Of the 58 ORS samples analysed to date from the Anglo-Welsh Basin, only four show analyses where Ba exceeds 1000 ppm, similar to the lower range of the Altar Stone composition. However, because of their contrasting mineralogies, combined with data collected from new automated SEM-EDS and Raman Spectroscopic analyses these four samples must be discounted as being from the source of the Altar Stone. It now seems ever more likely that the Altar Stone was not derived from the ORS of the Anglo-Welsh Basin, and therefore it is time to broaden our horizons, both geographically and stratigraphically into northern Britain and also to consider continental sandstones of a younger age. There is no doubt that considering the Altar Stone as a ‘bluestone’ has influenced thinking regarding the long-held view to a source in Wales. We therefore propose that the Altar Stone should be ‘de-classified’ as a bluestone, breaking a link to the essentially Mynydd Preseli-derived bluestones.</p><p>Keywords: Neolithic; Stonehenge; Altar Stone; Sandstone analysis; Provenancing</p><p><span face="ElsevierSans, Arial, Helvetica, Roboto, "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Microsoft Sans Serif", "Segoe UI Symbol", STIXGeneral, "Cambria Math", "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1f1f1f; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Under a Creative Commons </span><a class="anchor anchor-default" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/" rel="noreferrer noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0272b1; display: inline-block; font-family: ElsevierSans, Arial, Helvetica, Roboto, "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Microsoft Sans Serif", "Segoe UI Symbol", STIXGeneral, "Cambria Math", "Arial Unicode MS", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s, border-bottom-color 0.3s ease 0s; word-break: break-word;" target="_blank"><span class="anchor-text" style="border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: border-bottom-color 0.3s ease 0s;">license</span></a></p>
<iframe allow="autoplay" height="480" src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_1Bt_r1zafsXKua3C-Wvh5NnI4nTNi6j/preview" width="640"></iframe>Tim Dawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10667360714222841797noreply@blogger.com0