Stonehenge could have been built by only 20 persons, a new report has revealed.
Stonehenge is believed to be built by Neolithic Britons from about 3000 B.C. to 2000 B.C. While its purpose is still unknown, scientists theorized that the area could be a burial site.
The construction of Stonehenge has been a subject of study for several years now. Since the civilization that built the formation did not leave any written records, there is little to no evidence that exists to reveal the construction techniques by the Stonehenge builders. The big stones weighing about 30 to 40 tons are sandstones that can be found in areas nearby. However, the smaller bluestones are only found in Wales.
In an attempt to find out the effort required to transport the bluestones from the Preseli Mountains in Wales to the present site at Stonehenge, Barney Harris, an archeology student from University College London, conducted an experiment.
Harris organized a team of volunteers and placed a 1.1-ton (2,200-pound) Preseli bluestone rock atop a sycamore sleigh with tracks made of silver birch logs. Harris first guessed that he would need 15 volunteers to move the load, but in the experiment, only 10 people were required to drag the heavy load to about 10 feet every 5 seconds. He concluded that for the Neolithic Britons to move a 2-ton (4,000-pound) bluestone rock from the Preseli Mountains to Stonehenge, only 20 persons would be required.
"It's true that we did the experiment on flat ground, and there would have been steep slopes to navigate when going through the Preseli Mountains," said Harris. "But actually this kind of system works well on rough terrain."
Harris mentioned that several modern civilizations have successfully used sleigh systems to build large monuments.
Harris and colleagues will use the data to analyze the length of time the Neolithic Britons took to completely move the bluestones to Stonehenge.
Sadly, a separate report detailed that heavy rains and extreme flooding caused by climate change are damaging the iconic Stonehenge.
Photo: Jim Bowen | Flickr
