Lillie at 7.0. clock comes in dressed to the nines. It's result day, I wish her luck and tell not to bend down too quickly with the short skirt she is wearing. After she has been to college, she and her friends will go out to lunch and we will have a takeaway this evening to celebrate. There are three big Ikea bags of stuff to start her new life, she is looking forward to going to London.
But before that happens she is going to Glasgow on a birthday trip this weekend with her mother, not sure of the reason why but they have booked themselves into a good hotel.
Which brings me to the astonishing news about Stonehenge and the Altar stone from Scotland no less. For a good read on this, you must turn to Mike Pitts on Digging Deeper. He has written so much about Stonehenge he must be the expert to beat all experts on the subject.
Stonehenge is made up of several assemblies, the great sarsen stones come from the downs around, within a 20 mile distance. The Welsh blue stones from the Preseli Hills. The stone discovered to be Scottish from the North-East of Scotland. It is Old Red Sandstone of the Orcadian Basin and is the Altar Stone, buried deep by time and the toppling of other stones, it lays half hidden in the grass. Mike Pitts jumped to the same conclusion I did when he learnt it was from Scotland a 'recumbent altar stone' something you find in this part of Scotland.
So what are we seeing, well the interminable question that has haunted the Bluestones, how did they travel from Wales to England, by land or sea? Now of course we have a much longer journey from Scotland, land or sea?
Note, Pitts makes a little jibe at Brian Johns for his theory of glacial movement but it is extraordinary to think that these stones both from Wales and Scotland made the journey down South. Was this the first Brexit, a mini market like Europe, makes you think! Well done to the team that analyzed it, I think it was done in Australia.
Nearer to home, my patchwork quilt is coming to an end, I had made squares of 16 small squares in four different colours loving the way colours match, or do not. My worry yesterday was the backing material, Cotton Patch materials are very expensive, but I managed to find some 'fat quarters' on the net so it should all come together.
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| the Prescili Hills |
Guardian news on the subject
A group of students are going to steal the altar stone and take it back to Scotland like they did the Stone of Scone. They might break it too.
ReplyDeleteThey would need a crane, which would rather stand out in this heavily trafficked part of Stonehenge. Geoffrey of Monmouth (12th C) said they were flown over from Ireland, so he is slightly nearer with his half truth.
DeleteThe origin of the stone was reported here. Quite remarkable. Maybe the stone was floated down a canal from Scotland to Stonehenge on a long boat?
ReplyDeleteThere has been a long running battle about either sea or land. Our rivers don't match up for a start Andrew and the terrain is tough. Mike Pitts argues that taking these large stones by sea would leave them prehistoric people in danger of losing them to storms. I think the wonder of it is that how early trading was established in the Neolithic age.
ReplyDeleteYou inspire me to start quilting again. I haven't done it for a while and I'm trying to think who I could make a quilt for. Hope to see photos of yours when you get a chance...
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to Lillie in London!
Just quilt for enjoyment Ellen, you can make small runners for tables, or even place mats. She has got the placing she wanted.
DeleteThat is an entirely new 'think' for me. I had absolutely no idea that the stones from Stonehenge came from such disparate locations. You've got me wanting to head right off and start reading...and I CAN'T! I have things to do. But I have a fascinating bit of pondering to hold me while I work today!
ReplyDeleteWell the sceptics are already out on the paper. Provenance is being questioned as the stone was bought from a fossil shop, though Salisbury museum had it. but like all statements it has to be thoroughly checked. And it will be Debby.
DeleteIt all seems incredible - like a crackpot theory. I wonder if chemical analysis has happened in order to determine the exact original location of the altar stone. I know that such analysis did happen in relation to the blue stones and the precise origin was determined.
ReplyDeleteYou are right there was a specific quarry found in Preseli, which by the way has a lot of prehistoric history. Geology is fascinating but the spread of the Red Sandstone stretches along the coastline and must surely belong to one type of rock.
ReplyDelete