The Neolithic Landscape of Avebury and the Kennet Valley

New research "suggests that there is little evidence of widespread woodland removal associated with Neolithic farming and monument building, despite the evidently large timber requirements for Neolithic sites like the West Kennet palisade enclosures. Consequently, there was relatively light human disturbance of the hinterland and valley slopes over the longue durée until the later Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, with a predominance of pasture over arable land. Rather than large Neolithic monument complexes being constructed within woodland clearings, representing ancestral and sacred spaces, the substantially much more open landscape provided a suitable landscape with areas of sarsen spreads potentially easily visible."

FRENCH C, CAREY C, ALLEN MJ, et al. The Alluvial Geoarchaeology of the Upper River Kennet in the Avebury Landscape: a Monumental Transformation of a Stable Landscape. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. Published online 2024:1-35. doi:10.1017/ppr.2024.6

Did the Altar Stone come from Ireland?

Rock outcrops on the summit of The Pinnacle, Slievereagh

"First recorded in 1136 by Anglo-Norman historian Geoffrey de Monmouth, the centuries-old legend of Stonehenge’s Irish provenance describes the search by King Aurelius of Britain for a fitting monument to honour those slain by the invading Saxons on Salisbury Plain.

Having first proposed the ‘Giants’ Dance’ on Ireland’s Mount Killara as best-suited, court-magician Merlin is promptly sent forth, along with Uther Pendragon (father of King Arthur) and 15,000 men, to defeat the local king and transport the stones back to Amesbury for re-assembly... Over time, however, the location of the original Irish site of the ‘Giants’ Dance’ at Mount Killara/Killara(us) was lost..... Thomas Johnson Westropp of Attyflin Park, Patrickswell (1860-1922) (provides) a reference to a local mountain named by John Stow and Geoffrey Keating as the source of the Stonehenge pillars! Geoffrey Keating’s AD1634 ‘Foras Feasa ar Éirinn’ delightfully provided the name of the mountain in the original Irish language, - ‘Sliabh gCláire’."

Larry Joy continues in https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/1509046/stonehenge-legend-traced-to-limerick-hillside.html: "I was in the happy position of being able to instantly identify Keating’s reference since this peak and the magnificent Dunglara (Dún gCláire) hill fort ( 52.38795°N, 8.39785W) on its northern slope tied in neatly with my research. The mountain was originally named for its location overlooking Clár Múmhan, the Plain of Munster, (slíabh - mountain, gCláire - of the plain) and is known as Sliabh gCláire throughout medieval Irish literature.

Somewhere along the line the original name of the mountain changed, but I can now happily reveal that the legendary Irish mountain forever linked to the iconic Stonehenge monument is Slievereagh, above the sequestered hillside village of Glenbrohane in south-east Limerick.

With an outer diameter of over three hundred feet and a circumference of nine hundred, Dún gCláire proves an uncanny match for Stonehenge’s outer henge, while the positioning of their entrances, their alignment to the solstice sunrise and their prominent locations within pre-historic tribal strongholds provide further eerie parallels."

There is obviously no match between the geology of the area and the Sarsens and Bluestones of Stonehenge but what about the Altar Stone? Dún gCláire is situated on the  Kiltorcan Formation of Old Red Sandstone. a Devonian sandstone.

From Heritage Maps .ie

The latest geological information about the Altar Stone is Bevins et al. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/374362392_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 or https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X23003905

which describes the stone as: "a sandstone of continental origin.. 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. ...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."

Their map of Ba concentrations is slightly misleading in that whilst in includes the whole of Ireland, it is only in Northern Ireland that the Ba concentrations have been mapped. 

The Soil Geochemical Atlas of Ireland provides Ba analysis of the rest:

This is not quite comparable especially as the composition of sandstones depend on the palaeodrainage pattern, as shown by a study on the Dingle peninsular, and there appears to be high Barium concentrations to the the north from where the sand granules that formed the sandstone may have come.  

Maybe the hunt for the Altar Stone source should include Ireland as well as northern Britain.

(Click any picture to embiggen)

Natural terrestrial corridors from across Britain to Stonehenge

Joseph Lewis @josephlewis1992 writes on X Natural terrestrial corridors from across Britain to Stonehenge*

• Least-cost paths (lcps) calculated using ordnance survey 50m DEM (aggregated to 100m)
• lcps calculated to minimise energy expenditure
• lcps sum aggregated using a 1km window
• 2,322 lcps calculated to Stonehenge from across Britain 

 * not to be taken too seriously - mainly for fun, e.g. does not incorporate rivers, assumes that movement optimised for reducing energy expenditure

Click to embiggen

Natural terrestrial corridors from across Britain to Stonehenge*

* not to be taken too seriously - mainly for fun, e.g. does not incorporate rivers, assumes that movement optimised for reducing energy expenditure pic.twitter.com/DM3TQyXvTa

— Joseph Lewis (@josephlewis1992) April 29, 2024

Without a filter all roads lead to Stonehenge

 

Was Woodhenge made of inverted trees?

Playing with new tools and returning to an old idea that, as with Seahenge, Woodhenge  was originally inverted trees. Under a canopy of roots would have been a powerful experience, a world turned upside down.

  

The Natural Corridor for the Bluestones Route

A fascinating and opportune paper has been published which sheds light on the likely route that the Bluestones were brought along from Wales to Stonehenge.

Estimating the Scale-Dependent Influence of Natural Terrestrial Corridors on the Positioning of Settlements: A Multi-Scale Study of Roman Forts in Wales 

Joseph Lewis  @josephlewis1992

University of Cambridge 0000-0002-0477-1756 

He shows the "natural corridors", identified by analysing "the path of least-resistance from a chosen origin and destination location based on costs associated with traversing" it. He is interested in the Romans, but what have they ever done for us? Far more interesting is the implications for earlier populations and their routes.

The paper is admirably brief and understandable and is well worth reading.

One simple map from it, slightly enhanced for this format, shows how the A40 route, or the version of it just undertaken by Keith Ray, is the natural route for the Bluestones to have been brought along, with or without help from river transport.

Click to embiggen - adapted from Fig 3 "walking with rivers acting as potential conduits for movement"

https://josephlewis.github.io/RW_Natural_Corridors.pdf

I look forward to further work using this technique.

I have compared the  southern natural routes to the Drovers Roads in Davies, Margaret. Wales in Maps. United Kingdom, University of Wales Press, 1958. 

Map from https://twitter.com/jackthurston/status/1373233813611016196/photo/1

And to the modern road network - base map from https://ontheworldmap.com/uk/wales/detailed-map-of-wales.html

Click any picture to embiggen

They show the question of whether to follow the A40 route to Monmouth or loop north to Hereford. Keith Ray preferred the latter as it leads to an easier crossing of the River Severn.

They also show that the natural route, and incidentally a Roman road, cut off the Llandovery corner of the A40. There is a valley route they follow.   

Doubting the overland transportation of the stones is insulting to our Neolithic ancestors.

Professor Keith Ray, a university professor and archaeologist, embarked on an extraordinary journey—a 222-mile trek through the Welsh and English countryside. His mission? To reach the iconic Stonehenge on schedule. But this wasn’t just a leisurely stroll; it was a quest to trace one of the possible routes that Neolithic peoples might have used to transport the massive megaliths from the Preseli Hills in Wales to the Salisbury Plain.

 

On Sunday, April 21, Professor Keith Ray achieved his goal, arriving at Stonehenge. Along different sections of his walk, he was joined by numerous academics, archaeologists, and other experts who accompanied him to learn about the terrain first hand. The journey took less than a month, and it provided valuable insights into the ancient landscape.

 
Win Scutt, senior properties curator for English Heritage, labeled Keith’s trip an “absolutely astonishing, heroic achievement”. At the seminar about the trip it was emphasized that doubting the overland transportation of the stones was insulting to our Neolithic ancestors and researchers were urged to have appreciation for their capabilities.

 
Keith Ray’s low-tech research method led to an interesting discovery: a route through the hills and mountains between Wales and England that never required more than a 20-degree climb. Along the way, he was joined by over 20 other academics. Keith observed that the lines of travel often followed ancient paths, demonstrating how the ancients navigated the landscape by going with the land and following the path of least resistance.

 
Kate Churchill, an archaeologist at Churchill Archaeology in Monmouthshire, walked part of the way with Keith. She found the experience comparable to walking during Neolithic times, allowing her to “stop and look at the landscape and be inspired.”

 
Professor Keith Ray’s remarkable journey sheds light on the historical connections between Wales and Stonehenge, revealing the ancient pathways that once connected these distant lands.

(Press release via Microsoft CoPilot)

Walking the Bluestone Route

Professor Keith Ray, of Cardiff University, started his 230-mile walk from the Preseli Hills on 2nd April 2024 and is planning to reach Stonehenge on 21st April. 

"He designed the long-distance route and is walking its length on consecutive days, to explore the landscape through the eyes of Neolithic people and visualise how the land may have looked over 5,000 years ago. Those taking part in the experimental walk have reflected on the choices and challenges which the stone-carriers may have faced if they had travelled along the same route. 

It’s thought that this is the first time that the journey has been made on foot in modern times.In doing the walk, Keith aims to bring public attention to the possibility that overland transportation of the stones by ancient peoples may have been possible, by following one of the potential routes that would have been taken."