The Bluestone Enigma ...

[Michael Grove]

 

Stonehenge, Preseli and the Ice Age

 

The most controversial book ever published about Stonehenge, in which the author questions many of the supposed facts about the ruinous and iconic monument and finds them to be nothing more than fantasies and suppositions. The author shows that the monument was built on Salisbury Plain simply because that is where the stones were, and that the bluestones (of many different types) were glacial erratics. He suggests that the myth of the human transport of the stones has been kept alive down through the years simply for commercial reasons; Stonehenge brings in so much money to the British economy that nobody wants to allow the truth to get in the way of a good story.......

 

 

"In this book I have taken nothing for granted,

and after examining many of the "facts" taken

as read by archaeologists, I show that many

of them are suppositions, based upon the

flimsiest of evidence.

 

The theory of the human transport of the bluestones has no evidence at all in support

of it. Archaeologists have allowed their obsession with a ruling hypothesis to lead them

into a world of wild and grotesque fantasies -- for example, the recently proposed

"healing stones" theory has no more hard evidence to back it up than a children's

fairytale. Stonehenge was never finished, and it may well have been a jerry-built

disaster. The bluestones -- from at least 15 different locations -- were not carried by

our Neolithic ancestors from Wales, but were glacial erratics, picked up in the

vicinity of Stonehenge. It follows that the builders of the monument had no idea where

the stones had come from"  -  Brian John

 

 

For the last hundred years the bluestones of Stonehenge have been the subject of heated debate. Where did they come from, and how did they get there? In this meticulously researched, but very readable, book Brian John looks at the various theories and argues that most are unscientific and sentimental. Indeed, he takes to task some archaeologists who refuse to let facts get in the way of a good story. The author asks the reader to consider, among other proposals, that the bluestones came from at least fifteen different localities in West and South Wales and elsewhere, and that there were no Neolithic stone collecting expeditions. The bluestones, he suggests, were already on or near Salisbury Plain at least a thousand years before the building of the first stone monument at Stonehenge and they were used simply because they were readily available. He points out that the term bluestone covers rock with widely differing characteristics, including rubbish stones made of volcanic ash which would hardly have been selected by the builders for their magical or healing properties. Nor were the spotted dolerite stones, considered sacred by many today, used preferentially in megalithic structures in either Wales or Wiltshire. The proposal that the stones were transported by the Irish Sea Glacier during the Ice Age is convincingly argued in this book which will certainly fuel debate, and may shatter some fondly held illusions!

 

                                            Morag Perrott - Walking Wales magazine

 

One of the strongest modern myths about Stonehenge to have taken root is that the less monumental but no less impressive so-called bluestones were physically brought by prehistoric peoples from the Preseli Hills in south-west Wales to Wiltshire. The second strongest modern myth is that the whole saga was somehow remembered over a hundred or more generations to be documented by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the 12th century as a feat of Merlin. In this self-published title Dr John examines these and other myths and finds them wanting in terms of echoing reality. His key points include the fact that not only do the bluestones derive from at least fifteen different locales in West and South Wales (not just the Preselis), there is no evidence at all for any stone-collecting expeditions from as far afield as this, let alone cultural links between Wessex and West Wales. He deduces that bluestones were present on or near Salisbury Plain at least a millennium before Stonehenge was commenced, and were not especially selected for their quality, their supposed magical significance or healing properties. How did the stones get to Wessex? The author s expertise in geomorphology allows him to discourse authoritatively on how Welsh stones could have been brought by the great Irish Sea glacier as far east as Bath, the Mendips and Glastonbury (though uncertainty still exists whether it reached as far as Salisbury Plain).

 

                                               Chris Lovegrove - Pendragon magazine

 

 

This book is about the boulders that created the earliest stone circle on the Stonehenge site and shows that, contrary to received belief, these bluestones were actually gathered from several sources locally, rather than being laboriously transported from Wales. This commonsense approach is shunned by academic archaeologists as it undermines their heavy duty paradigm and their consequent projects' approval and funding. Dr John's book, The Bluestone Enigma, tells the story of the bluestones in a straightforward and easily read style, which is well illustrated by colour photographs and line drawings. His description of the pitfalls in an experiment to move a single three tonne stone from Preseli, in South Wales, to the vicinity of Stonehenge, should be required study material for every British prehistorian. It's not unlikely that the ancients also recognised the common geology in both the Salisbury Plain bluestones and the Welsh bedrock but provided a legend of them being moved by giants, or fairies, to explain the transport by glacial drift. It is simply the remnant of that myth that is repeated by many eminent professionals today. Brian John demonstrates quite persuasively in this book that the facts no longer support that crazy hypothesis. This book is for everyone that wants to be ahead of the game and in the know. It will be ignored by stuffy archaeologists but should initiate a process of reappraising British early history. I recommend that everyone with an interest in the British stone monuments obtain two copies of this book - one for themselves, and one for a colleague. Just leave the stuffy academics to their fairy stories for now!

                                                                             

                                                  Stone Gloves - Modern Antiquarian

 

 

 

It seems to me that there are many deaths along the way  to  the death of

the flesh. That our soul or spirit or sense of self, whatever you might wish

to call it, is offered the opportunity to die and be reborn many times. And

that is what I think of when considering this dolmen -- how I am called to

release the old and move toward the new over and over again.

 

 

First posted by Michael Grove on May 29, 2009 at 11:00

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[Michael Grove]

With respect to Stonehenge, the archaeological establishment is accused of inventing evidence to suit its ruling hypotheses, and of ignoring carefully researched geological evidence simply because it is "inconvenient." Senior archaeologists are accused of descending to the level of junk science, and of being more interested in the telling of fantastical tales than in the careful collection and analysis of data. Archaeologists will not like this book ......

                                Greencroft Books - Newport, Pembrokeshire

[Michael Grove]

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the notion that the evolutionary process is ultimately driven by a spiritual impulse is continuing to gain traction, with a growing number of progressive philosophers, scientists, and mystics exploring its implications.

To many, it is simply a compelling philosophy, uniting the revelations of science and spirituality in a way that no other theory can. But others, like Aurobindo before them, are beginning to reach beyond a theoretical discussion to wonder: What might human life and culture look like if we fully took to heart the reality of this view ?

WHEN [IT] COMES TO MOVING HUGE BLOCKS of STONE however, 
there are certainly more than just one tale to tell !!!???  

Freed from the mythic dogmatisms of premodern religion, transcending the materialistic biases of modern scientific thought, and liberated from the narcissistic self-absorptions of postmodernity, what kind of new world could human beings aligned with the trajectory of a spiritually evolving cosmos actually create?