58 



Recent Excavations at Stonehenge. 



there can be no reasonable donbt. The comparative pancity of 

 fragments of sarsen stone, especially those of large size, in the 

 excavations recently made, points to the conclusion that these 

 large monoliths were selected for their size and shape, and then 

 rudely trimmed at the spots where they tvere found. Only the final 

 dressing of the surfaces of the stones, with perhaps the carving of 

 the tenons and mortices, would ■ appear to have been left to be 

 executed at the place of erection. It is scarcely conceivable that 

 in dealing with the transport of such bulky and heavy masses the 

 builders of the monument would not have reduced the weight of 

 the stones as far as possible before attempting their removal. The 

 proportion of sarsen to other fragments in the soil of Stonehenge 

 fully supports the conclusion that the rough dressing was performed 

 before the stones were brought to the place of erection. 



With respect to the " blues tones," it is no less obvious that they 

 were for the most part chipped into the required forms and dressed 

 near the place of their erection. This is shown by the circumstance 

 that, within the limited area of the recent excavations, such a very 

 large quantity of angular chips of these " bluestones " have been 

 found. 



This fact, I think, completely negatives the old traditions con- 

 cerning Stonehenge, that it consisted of a circle of " bluestones," 

 which had acquired a certain sanctity in a distant locality, and 

 had been transported from the original home of the tribe, when it 

 emigrated or was driven to Salisbury Plain, or that it was a trophy 

 of war, the larger monoliths being afterwards erected around the 

 primitive sacred stone-circle. If this had been the case, it is im- 

 possible to believe that stones regarded with such veneration, and 

 transported with such difficulty from distant localities, would have 

 been reduced to something like half their bulk (as they must have 

 been in many cases) before re-erection. 



Many attempts have been made to suggest a probable locality 

 from which the " bluestones " of Stonehenge may have been brought 

 These have all been based upon the assumption that the present, 

 standing stones represent the whole of the " foreign rocks " em- 

 ployed. As we have seen in the preceding pages, however, the 



