Stonehenge Built With Balls? New experiment suggests monumental stones could have rolled on rails

National Geographic News ^ | Friday, December 10, 2010 | Kate Ravilious

[SunkenCiv]

In before the anachronistic fantasies.

U.K. archaeology students attempt to prove a rail-and-ball system could have moved Stonehenge stones. [Photograph courtesy University of Exeter]

[SunkenCiv]

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[CholeraJoe]

“Wyngardium Leviosa!”

[Tainan]

Levitation....everyone knows thats how Stoneburg was built.

Obviously remnants of an ancient and highly evolved civilization.

[SunkenCiv]

	Photograph by Ken Geiger, National Geographic staff
	Photograph by Ken Geiger, National Geographic staff
	Photograph courtesy Crown Copyright, National Monuments Record
	Photograph by Ken Geiger, National Geographic staff
	Photograph by Andrew Henderson
	Photograph by Andrew Henderson
	Photograph by Andrew Henderson
	Photograph by Ken Geiger, National Geographic staff; photographed at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum
	Photograph by Ken Geiger, National Geographic staff; photographed at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum
	Photograph by Ken Geiger, National Geographic staff; photographed at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum B.C. with metalworking tools, a quiver of fine arrows. What brought him to within a few miles of Stonehenge at its height? Another mystery.
	Photograph by Ken Geiger, National Geographic staff; photographed at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum
	Photograph by Ken Geiger, National Geographic staff; photographed at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum
	Photograph by Jason Hawkes
	Photograph by Ken Geiger, National Geographic staff
	Photograph by British Geological Survey/NERC
	Photograph by Andrew Henderson [http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1162528]
	Photograph by Andrew Henderson [http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1162529]
	Photograph by Ken Geiger, National Geographic staff
	Photograph by Ken Geiger, National Geographic staff
If the Stones Could Speak: Searching for the meaning of Stonehenge [National Geographic Society]

[SunkenCiv]

Okay, I had to look that up — you’re number two in the search hit results! :’)

[SunkenCiv]

:’)

[Robert A Cook PE]

“Wyngardium Leviosa!”

And that only got a Nbr 3 ranking?

[Robert A Cook PE]

The idea sounds neat, inventive, practical, do-able.

Makes sense. And the rocks would not be discarded after one use in one place. At 3 inch diameter, the priests/builders/foreman/stonecutters would simply find it easy to just pick them all up and take them to the next site.

[RichInOC]

Wow. Those ancient British had big stones, didn’t they?

[fieldmarshaldj]

Probably to make up for their bad teeth.

[doodad]

Aye it took balls. Large brass ones laddie.

and ample free time and ale

[Caipirabob]

Sorry, but I'm sticking with the "Aliens" theory...

I love these threads. Thanks for the post!

[kingpins10]

The History Channel said it was built with alien technology, so, you know, it’s gotta be true.

[sodpoodle]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/4123764.stm

Is there any possibility that there is a stone quarry UNDERNEATH Stonehenge?

It would have been possible to remove the dirt and leave the stones exposed in the formation.

I still believe it was physically impossible for humans to drag those monsters 240 miles - without a thousand dray horses on rotating shifts.

[sodpoodle]

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/stonehenge

That’s just silly!!!!

[JRios1968]

Andrew Young, though, says Stonehenge's slabs, may have been rolled over a series of balls lined up in grooved rails, according to a November 30 statement from Exeter University in the U.K., where Young is a doctoral student in biosciences.

I bet he's related to Angus Young of AC/DC...

[DUMBGRUNT]

What did they use for high tensile strength rope?
With perfectly round bearings and straight grooves they would hit soft spots in the earth.
How many pushers could be engaged?
My guess is that it would tend to nose down and need to be pulled out?

[Bigg Red]

What? These college students think women provided the horsepower?

[PapaBear3625]

I still believe it was physically impossible for humans to drag those monsters 240 miles - without a thousand dray horses on rotating shifts.

Lots of things are possible -- with enough people over a long-enough time frame.

As an alternate possibility, how cold might British winters been at the time? Instead of stone balls, could they have poured water along the path, had it freeze, and had a huge party at the winter solstice, moving the stones a couple of miles every year until they were done?