UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2008:
The 'healing' power of bluestones
UPDATE JUNE 2006:
Bluestones may have travelled by glacier claim
The Preseli Bluestones: 2005 article
The bluestones - which form the inner circle of Stonehenge - were transported over 240 miles to Salisbury Plain.
Local archaeologists said in June 2005 that Professor Darvill had made a "convincing and compelling" argument.
Writing in the July/August 2005 issue of British Archaeology, he described the very spot from which be says the stones were quarried centuries ago.
He believes there is evidence at the site that it was used as a prehistoric quarry. Added to that the rock formations there are identical to those of the bluestones and the location of the quarry meant it would have been prized source of stone.
Earlier this year he and his colleague Geoff Wainwright led a field expedition to the site, which he describes as "a veritable Aladdin's Cave of made-to-measure pillars for aspiring circle builders".
He describes a "small crag-edged promontory with a stone bank across its neck" and measuring less than half a hectare as the exact location."Three things are clear from just looking around the site," he said."First, those outcrops have been exploited as a source of stone for a long time and much has been taken away.
"Second, our understanding of what a 'quarry' is perhaps needs to be modified because here the extraction of pillars simply involves leavening suitably shaped but naturally detached blocks from the ground or a fractured outcrop.
Gwilym Hughes, Director of Cambria Archaeology, the south west Wales archaeological trust, said Mr Darvill still had some work to do to prove his theory beyond doubt.
But he said: "They have put forward a very reasoned argument which I found very convincing and very compelling.
"When you stand up on the site you can see what kind of hold and significance it would have had for prehistoric man, it's got a kind of aura about it.
"There are alternative theories put forward for the arrival of the Bluestones at Salisbury Hill including the possibility they have been taken there by natural forces such as glaciers."
"Personally I would like to think they have been taken there by human action."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites
your comments
We're making some changes to the sites shortly and although this form will be closing, you will have other opportunities to contribute on our new-look site.
Brian from Newport
I think Eileen is right -- the stones were glacial erratics, deposited in a train somewhere to the west of Stonehenge. They were easy to find and collect, because the Stonehenge builders just had to follow the trail westwards.
When they were gone, they were gone. None of the stone settings at Stonehenge were ever finished - due to lack of stones. It follows that the Stonehenge builders had no idea where the stones had come from - but the fact that they were "different" may have been enough to invest them with some sort of mystical significance.
New geology shows that the stones came from at least 15 different locations - including Carmarthen or Breconshire. There is no way that they could have been collected from so many different places by our Neolithic ancestors, and then carried across the sea. That always was a fantasy, and an unnecessary elaboration, based upon a misunderstanding on the part of Herbert Thomas in 1921 of the glacial history of the British Isles.
Mon Sep 29 16:30:09 2008
Richard Freeman, Leeds
I have been sceptical about the source of the Stonehenge bluestone for over half a century. They are of dolerite, a rock type that is ubiquitous, albeit greatly variable.
However, because of their widespread distribution, relying solely on petrographic evidence, which seems to be all that is ever referred to, is rather restrictive. Trace element and isotopic evidence at least should be available to confirm that from petrography. Hence the inevitable question - is there supporting information from geochemical analysis?
Mon Sep 29 15:40:23 2008
Joshua from Totnes
I had a dream. No, a recurring dream that came like a vision into my slumbering mind. In my dream, I was responsible for finding and moving one of the large bluestones from the Preseli hills to Stonehenge.
Now I have lived in Pembrokeshire for a large part of my life, just around the corner from the Bluestone quarry. However the way we transported the large several tonne stone was through singing and chanting to it.
The combined voices of around thirty people produced enough magical mystical energy to lift the large many tonne stone high into the air and it kind of floated/hovered the 250 miles to the Stonehenge site.
We (in the dream) were all dressed in greeny brown robes leading me to believe we were some kind of druidic order, of which I was in charge. Only a dream, only my overactive imagination, but an intresting story nontheless.
I like to think that way back when at the dawn of time ancient magic was a strong force. Therefore levitating a stone by the power of song might not be so far-fetched. Yes floating stones held aloft by the power of song...thats my magic story.
Mon Sep 29 15:17:00 2008
Robert Turner, Crieff
This excavation at Stonehenge seems to me to be only scratching the surface, has a dig gone any deeper the say, two feet or so? and what could there be at a much deeper level!
Fri Jul 25 15:15:42 2008
Robert Pape from Bromley
Has anyone ever considered that Stonehenge may be the remnants of a roundhouse?
Mon Apr 28 10:50:27 2008
Eileen Abell Leicestershire
After reviewing all info on current Stonehenge dig plus further research into geomorpholology, glaciation etc, I've formed the opinion these were deposited glacially nearby and were robbed/dragged (as later were historical Roman large stone structures) to the site by our crafty ancestors to provide, by some megalomaniac ruler, a place by which they could impose the divine importance of these so-called "blue-stones" (not geologically recognised by that name).
These large stones, when in situ, would have awed the local populace into submission and would have given their "creator" some amount of power. Sounds cynical but humans always seek power and given recent stories of "blue triangle tents, gurus, mythology" etc, could this just be an example of their way of doing a "smoke and mirrors" to subjucate difficult tribes?
Wed Apr 23 16:43:18 2008
Mrs S J Wilson
How interesting that everyone has to proclaim their theories and ignore the facts...even I know that bluestones have been found on the sea bed along the expected route that Neolithic sailors would have used. And I am fascinated to know how the stones got from seven quarries to Stonehenge without being transported...
Tue Apr 15 10:02:33 2008
V. VanCamp USA
Take the most likely path the stones were dragged and start digging along the way. These stones must have been moved over time by different generations and there may be evidence of that. As for a single significance, well, could there be more than one reason? No one resaon fits.
Wed Apr 9 12:38:49 2008
Robert Lee From Uclan
The stones were either moved via a combination of log rollers and man power, or over the water, both of which indicating that either the stones possessed a 'power' of some sort, or more likely (in reference to such situations as Langsdale axes etc) they were seen as achievements to get the stones, rather than the stones being of particular function. And, considering Irish neolithic is 'earlier' than that of Britain, it is certainly a theory that ideologies spread from the west coast.
Mon Apr 7 10:47:05 2008
Tom Flowers from the West Midlands
If Stonehenge was an A and E, was Woodhenge a Triage? Sorry to be sarcastic but this idea is just another red herring designed to divert the public away from the truth. English Heritage already knows the real hypothesis for the Stone Age monuments, and where the proof was found.
Mon Apr 7 10:41:02 2008
Margaret Wilson of Swanage
I think the local Welsh thought that the stones might tell them something about the constellations overhead as there seemed to be a relationship.
The stones carried images of stars and constellations on a blue background. They built a ring close by,just a few yards north of the bluestone outcrop and worshipped there.
News of that temple spread south and the folk in Wiltshire desired those stones. They got them transferred south and began to build Stonehenge.
Mon Apr 7 10:37:51 2008
Mike Burgess, Georgia, USA
The current dig is fascinating, but even more so is the increasing controversy that is developing, or should I say widening. Stonehenge may have been a site for religious gatherings, or to eulogize the dead. With the current dig, the emphasis is on the supposed curative properties of blue stone.
Personally, when I enter a place of worship, it is for both the healing power and the religious feeling that I get. These are not really two separate theories. And is it not possible that Stonehenge is also a calendar marking celestial times of great importance?
The only theory I find reprehensible at this point is that the great monument was created by extraterrestrials.
Human beings are pretty amazing, and our ancestors were just as intelligent as we are, if not more so. Why not give them the credit, when documentaries have already shown that the technology for moving and setting the megaliths was possible!
Once the Salisbury dust has settled, perhaps some stubborn minded archaeological theorists will come together in thought and action to devise a proper theory regarding all the facts. Until then, thanks for the mental stimulation, and the unearthing of history.
Mon Apr 7 10:31:04 2008
Ann Sayer , Newport, Pembs
What I find interesting about the transportation of the bluestones from the Preselis to Stonehenge is that it implies the Neolithic culture in the Salisbury Plain was not as old as that of the Western Seaboard and that the stones were needed to 'seed' the newer structure with the power of the older site. At least is would seem that Stonehenge is derivative of the Preselis in some way.
I don't think there is any evidence to suggest the stones possessed healing power but they must certainly have been of religious significance.
Thu Apr 3 10:26:53 2008
Brian John from Newport
Sorry to be a party pooper, but Profs Wainwright and Darvill neglect to mention that the bluestones at Stonehenge have NOT all come from one quarry or even from one small area. OU reseachers showed years ago that the "foreign" stones at Stonehenge have come from at least seven different sites in North Pembrokeshire - and that some of them might not be from Pembrokeshire at all.
Even HH Thomas, the geologist who originally researched the stones, knew that. There are stones and fragments from Carngoedog, Carnalw, Carnmeini, Carn Ddafad-las and even Carn Clust-y-Ci near Dinas.
...This is all a jolly media story, but it is not science. And there is not a single shred of evidence in support of the theory that the stones were transported by Neolithic people all the way from Wales to Stonehenge.
Mon Mar 31 16:52:46 2008
Blue Clark, Lampeter
This is not news! The Bluestones were positively identified as being from Carn Meini long ago. Most archaeologists with an interest now agree that the stones were moved by manpower...The documentary, Stonehenge, The Stones are in Your Bones, was written in 2002, released in 2004 and even explains why the stones were moved. Hope this is helpful.
Mon Feb 4 09:19:48 2008
Andrew Vovides from Veracruz, Mexico
Very convincing. I also read from some modern druid sources that there are also bluestone outcrops in southern Ireland. Legend mentions that the Stonehenge blustones were originally a circle in Ireland and have been transported to the present site on the Salisbury plain. Is the Irish bluestone identical to the Preseli Hill bluestone?
Mon Jul 31 09:15:32 2006
Are you convinced by the claims? Have you seen the bluestones at Stonehenge, or visited Carn Menyn in the Preselis? Add your comments here.
