15 replies to this topic

[GordonP]

Stonehenge
Built without blood, sweat or tears.

For hundreds of years, since the word archaeology was first used, it has been the accepted wisdom that hundreds if not thousands of men would have been needed during the construction of Stonehenge.

How else could it have been achieved 4000 years ago? Without wheels or roads or modern lifting equipment of any kind how else could such massive blocks of stone, some weighing up to 45 tons each, have been moved the 20 miles overland from their source on the Marlborough Downs? How else could such massively heavy stones have been planted upright in the ground and how else could the lintel stones have been lifted as high as 28 feet into the air and placed on top of the uprights? How else without a very large workforce, blood, sweat and tears?

Yet this solution raises as many questions as it provides answers, from a population of perhaps no more than 100,000 people scattered thinly from Lands End to the Orkneys how was such an army of men assembled? And from a society of early farmers living at near subsistence level how were these men sustained during their labours, which must have taken many years? And even if such a body of men could have been assembled and fed is it actually possible to move such massive stones by human muscle power alone? Many practical experiments have been mounted by archaeologists in the last 20 years to prove this point, none have been entirely convincing, indeed most have served only to illustrate how impossible the task really is.

As a professional builder this question occupied my idle thoughts for more than 20 years, the more I thought about it, the more experiments I watched on TV, the more convinced I became that Neolithic man must have used their intelligence rather than their muscle power in order to build Stonehenge. Only when I became totally convinced that the stones could not have been dragged overland did I begin see how else it might be done. If the stones were too heavy to drag then the only way they could be moved was if the were picked up. Immediately I could see how this could have been achieved, levers can pick things up with little effort but levers can also be used to move things forward at the same time!!! Arrange enough simple wooden levers each side of the stone and the stone can be picked up, moved forward a short distance and replaced on the ground, the levers can then be reset and the stone moved further forward, again and again all day long. Furthermore this can be done with very little physical effort, just like rowing a boat.

Over the next 10 years I spent many hours experimenting with stones of ever increasing weight, I did experiments into the problem of transporting the stones, erecting the stones and placing the lintel stones. Many of these experiments were filmed by TV news broadcasters (BBC News 24) and documentary filmmakers (Channel 5 and National Geographic Channel).

My main conclusions from these research experiments are surprising and if eventually accepted by archaeologists will mean a total rethink of Neolithic life 4000 years ago. No longer will it be thought necessary for Neolithic man to have gathered an army of workers to transport the sarsen stones to Stonehenge, my experiments prove that even the largest of the uprights could have been transported by as few as 60 men and that these few men could have completed the movement of each of these uprights in less than 6 weeks.

No longer will it be thought necessary for great earth banks to be constructed in order to erect these stones, my experiments prove that by utilising the known profiles of the stone holes at Stonehenge as few as 40 men using simple wooden levers could have erected each of these stones in no more that 3 days.

And my experiments prove that far from being the most difficult task at Stonehenge elevating the lintel stones is the easiest task of all, a task that can be completed by as few as 20 men in less than 1 day for each stone.

In the 1960s Prof G S Hawkins estimated that Stonehenge in the form we see it now represented more than 1,136,000 man-days work and that was just for the transport and erection of the stones. After 10 years of practical research I believe that this figure can now be reduced by almost 1 million man-days to a more believable 196,000 man –days. This figure still shows a tremendous amount of work went into the building of Stonehenge and why it was built at all will perhaps always remain a complete mystery but I believe my research proves that it was not only possible but that it could have been done without blood sweat or tears.

Building Stonehenge A radical new Theory by Gordon Pipes is published by Birchwood Publishers Ltd and is available online at Amazon Books or from all good bookshops. ISBN 9780956280701

[Pete G]

Hi Gordon,
any chance of a review copy (signed of course) for us stone rowers?

PeteG

[GordonP]

Hi Pete

Sure, no problem I have a limited number of review copies available which I will sell at half price (£10) signed of course. Just send a cheque Made out to Birchwood Publishers Ltd to Birchwood Publishers Ltd 457 Stenson Road Littleover Derby DE23 1LJ. Don't forget to include your address. I'll send a copy post free to anyone in the UK while stocks last.

Gordon

[Pete G]

Hi Gordan,
book arrived today (unsigned) I'll give it a good read through.
First impressions as a photographer is that the pics on pages 88 to 91 should have been left out.
They are so blurred!
PeteG

[GordonP]

Hi Pete

Once again I've had to start a new topic to reply. It seems it's impossible to scroll down on this post.

Sorry I forgot to sign the book, I'm not used to such things, anyway I'm sure we will meet again before too long and I'll be happy to oblige.

Re the photo's you mentioned, these will be much improved if/when the book is commercially printed, I'm waiting to judge the reaction before I commit any more money to this project.

Anyway I hope you enjoy the read, IMHO this subject deserves much greater discussion, how can we ever begin to understand Neolithic life until we understand how the building of Stonehenge might have been accomplished?

Best regards

Gordon

[Diego]

GordonP, on 27 August 2009 - 18:43, said:

Once again I've had to start a new topic to reply. It seems it's impossible to scroll down on this post.

We have disabled the shoutbox - it was still buggy and was probably the cause of the scrolling problems you had. And we merged the thread you started with the previous one.

Please report via PM if you find any problem using this forum.

Thanks!

[Pete G]

thanks Diego,
I couldn't use the chat box and had problems trying to merge these threads.
Pete

[neowolf]

GordonP, on 27 August 2009 - 18:43, said:

Hi Pete

Once again I've had to start a new topic to reply. It seems it's impossible to scroll down on this post.

Sorry I forgot to sign the book, I'm not used to such things, anyway I'm sure we will meet again before too long and I'll be happy to oblige.

Re the photo's you mentioned, these will be much improved if/when the book is commercially printed, I'm waiting to judge the reaction before I commit any more money to this project.

Anyway I hope you enjoy the read, IMHO this subject deserves much greater discussion, how can we ever begin to understand Neolithic life until we understand how the building of Stonehenge might have been accomplished?

Best regards
If you do publish i would buy . It would seem the most likley solution when you consider the lack of man power the need to feed and rest . It still seems an unbelievable undertaking that required so much belief in the final product ! Whoever made the first designs must have had alot of sway with the people who were actualy having to do the work . Which would go along with your idea , the amount of influence one man would have to have over such a large area of Britain to draw the man power when we know they were less than friendly with there neighbours at the best of times .
Gordon

[Maju]

Very interesting, Gordon.

Did you use something resembling a crane to lift the lintels and place them in position? It was the solution I could think easier.

Also I suspected that when much force was needed, maybe oxen instead of humans would have been used as traction, logically.

However I have watched on TV, Ifugao people from Philippines moving a very heavy burial stone onto a wooden structure, using nothing but ropes and wooden rollers. The activity was a communitary one (a feast was offered, of course) and there were maybe 50 people working all day during the dry season.

[tiompan]

Maju, on 9 December 2009 - 11:40, said:

Very interesting, Gordon.

Did you use something resembling a crane to lift the lintels and place them in position? It was the solution I could think easier.

Also I suspected that when much force was needed, maybe oxen instead of humans would have been used as traction, logically.

However I have watched on TV, Ifugao people from Philippines moving a very heavy burial stone onto a wooden structure, using nothing but ropes and wooden rollers. The activity was a communitary one (a feast was offered, of course) and there were maybe 50 people working all day during the dry season.

  This one ?
http://www.sumbaculture.org/batu.htm

good paper  .http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/dspace/handle/1892/4192

george

[cofu]

to GordonP problems of a Stonehendge from a position of Static model of the globe it is unsoluble after the following positions: Dynamic model
the globe a site ww.mammoths.narod.ru - has proved, that for the last (~ 800тысяч years) about (10 times) the firm environment of a planet was in stationary and non-stationary positions - hence for this period homo sapiens practically could not live (a zone of an ice dome)
from here a conclusion these constructions were erected when the Earth was in System of planets where the gravity was much less, quite obviously
and pyramids also were constructed, when still the Earth was not in an orbit of the Sun; thus the past of a planet includes stages I, II, III, IV - Static the model of the globe for given time shows total consequences of changes for the last (~ 800тысяч years) - hence to solve these problems using Static model - waste of time

[master1588]

I have seen some videos of a single person using only wooden frames and simple tools to move extremely large stones.  A retired carpenter demonstrated moving multiple ton concrete blocks all by himself.

There is a YouTube video of it:

"Man Moves Huge Blocks!"


He also has a web site:

http://www.theforgottentechnology.com/

[BuckyE]

Or just dragged a little way?

http://brian-mountai...-collected.html

[cofu]

there are something about building Stonehenge from the position of Dynamic globe model - this model of the globe has allowed to prove, that present non-stationary
the position of an environment of a planet (Ms) from the moment of occurrence of the Earth in an orbit of the Sun - last very short time intervals on the schedule (e - d); about (1000лет)
last turn Ms in a non-stationary position and that fact, that Ms hang up for such long time - is caused by changes in bowels of a planet, from here follows: Stonehenge it was erected when the Earth was in System of planets of other Galaxy, at a smaller gravity and time when this construction was erected exceeds at least (~1 million years), pyramids of Egypt also were erected at a smaller gravity; but alas - the past of a planet the Earth
Includes three models of the globe - two static and DM, and a present civilization invent set of absurd hypotheses about changes in the past - from a position
to one Static model of the globe which shows total consequences changing in the past on a plane

[shiny]

......LOL.......If you put a pebble under a sarsen on Salisbury Plain, with the intention of rolling the stone over it, I think you should expect to lose it as it's pressed into the soil......


....Not like operating on a concrete bed...