Objectives

• Test refinements to the “stone rowing” method of transport and establish a reasonable estimate as to how far a stone may be moved during the course of 1 working day using the 12 ton stone.

• Repeat the erection experiment as carried out in 2001 this time using a natural stone weighing 15 tons.

The first objective was achieved to a point, the refinements worked well although I was still disappointed with the estimate of the distance that might be covered during one working day. However I was using an unpractised team of mixed sex, many of which were unused to manual labour, yet we were still able to estimate a possible distance of 300 yards a day. A better result might be achieved using a practised team of manual workers and perhaps switching to a different method on the downhill sections of the route. Whether I will ever achieve a distance of half a mile per day is still a matter of speculation but we had proved that “stone rowing” was a credible transport method and perhaps the only credible method for the bigger (25 ton plus) sarsens.

The erection experiment was a total failure due mainly to the lack of preparation time that was available for the live broadcast, but overall we had learned a great deal and during the course of the experiments I learned from one of the archaeologists present about the actual profiles of the stone holes at Stonehenge and realised that the profiles of the holes could be utilised in order to erect the stone by levering the top of the stone until it was fully upright.