THE BOOK
Some of the ideas discussed in this blog are published in my new book called "The Stonehenge Bluestones" -- available by post and through good bookshops everywhere. Bad bookshops might not have it....
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Tuesday 29 September 2015

Striations at Stonehenge



We have had some recent discussion on this, and Myris has kindly brought to my attention the enclosed -- written by HH Thomas for the BGS Annual Report -- I'd hazard a guess and say the date was around 1920.

The text is almost a hundred years old, and much has moved on since then (including our understanding of glacier behaviour), but what's interesting is a reference to a large flake of bluestone showing "good" glacial striations.  On the whole I would trust HHT on whether the marks were glacial striations or not -- he had after all seen a lot of them in his time in Wales.

Others have also mentioned striae on bluestone monoliths, but they seem to be very indistinct and open to other interpretations too.  Mind you, we should not be surprised.  The mottley collection of stones and stumps of all shapes and sizes is after all best explained as a suite of glacial erratics  -- as we might have mentioned before.....

7 comments:

Evergreen said...

Great stuff, thank you Myris.

Is anybody here going along to the Beatrice de Cardi lecture?

1920, and still, unlike my allotment, the plot thickens.

chris johnson said...

Wonder what these striations mean?

The stones were touched by glaciers, or the stones were moved by glaciers? And in the latter case, how far?

BRIAN JOHN said...

Erratic boulders or slabs can be embedded in till and simply overridden by ice -- but the vast majority would be moved......

Myris of Alexandria said...

Whilst searching a well known aether-auction site I noted the publication date of the little blue book. Nov 2008. That is year zero BPRB! It is time to demand a rewrite, second edition. WE want a Craig Rhosyfelin chapter. We want the dirt on the MPP boys but please do not be so even-handed.
Oh it is year 2 BPRB.
Get revising. I bet you could get the beloved Daily Mail to write an article, mind you don't say too much about the Wagnerian connections.
M

BRIAN JOHN said...

Yes, it's getting rather out of date. Must shift my stocks of the current edition first, and then it will be time for a revised version. The stuff on Rhosyfelin will appear first in the peer-reviewed literature, in accordance with instructions from the gods.......

TonyH said...

I wonder if any of the Stones of Stonehenge/ Red Herring/ Wild Goose Chase boys AND GIRLS are going to insist their / offspring/ grandchildren are Christened Craig Rhosyfelin?

TonyH said...

Myris & Brian:

Rhosyfelin Chapter should be entitled "Guerillas In the Mist" (with apologies to Sigourney Weaver and Diane Fossey).