In 1987 my geography teacher who was a widely travelled man, did a few lessons on geology and we spent the time listening to his subject on stones coming from Marlborough / Savernake area. He also stated about the Neolithic era on how wooded the area was, and the link to woodhenge at Durrington. He was an incredible guy who was ahead of his time and engaged well with students who were less eager (me ! ) to do well. But his encouragement made me stick with it. Your enthusiasm Paul is like my geography teachers is why I'm here.I Thanks.
Stumbled upon this randomly and so happy I took the time to watch. Unbelievably professional presentation and extremely entertaining. You would really think these videos are done by big production companies with high budgets. The presenting and editing are excellent. The content intriguing. We will now follow you guys and look forward to all your content. I really do hope you guys grow and grow on RUclips and well deserved it would be. Thank you very much for the work you have put in.
It's a little known fact that to get the stones from Wales they invented a device they called a Welsh Hauliers Energy Expenditure Lessener that came to be known by it's acronym.
That was an outstanding video. Informative and very well presented and edited. David Nash was eloquent, modest and very knowledgeable. Thank you both for the time and effort you put in to it. Looking forward to the midweek and bonus videos.
I believe Stonehenge was stolen from Ireland by the wizard Merlin, right ? ( sorry but to quote guardians of the galaxy, ‘ I’m pretty much a pro, yeah ! ‘
I enjoyed both the lovely landscape (maybe even more because of the season) and the historic part of this video. The amazing effort the neolithic people put into it are a sure sign the Stonehenge site meant a lot to them.
All those routes and more. There was a tramway suggested, however the vegetation could have been burnt off and frosted ground in winter offered the better surface for rollers/sleds drawn by aurochs.
hi paul and rebecca , i knew this was going to be really good , very interesting , whatever path was used to get the stones there it was such a great effort , really well done and thank you so much guys 😊
An excellent video, Paul and Rebecca. I cannot even imagine the huge effort involved in moving these massively heavy stones such a long, long way. Has anyone even tried this challenge today? Frankly, I imagine moving such rocks with rollers is too much for us modern humans!
Thanks for making real (fleshing-out) the exciting stories from Science News or Discover Magazine about the stone having been sourced and transported, (but how?)-
Excellent video. It amused me that that the auto-captions on your conversation mention 'sarcasm stones' and 'marble dancers' - is it suggesting that Stonehenge might have been a Druid comedy venue?
What a brilliant channel! This popped up as a random suggestion and I'm grateful it did! This was fascinating and I look forward to checking out more of your stuff. Cheers :)
Fascinating episode for sure! I had not heard about the routes before so that part alone was interesting! Between you and David and Tim, I think the on going search for matching silcrete sites will ultimately lead to the discovery of the actual path of the stones! Great episode as usual!
Just a thought, for rejection ..... could the 25 ton blocks have been slid on ice blocks - an ice road in effect? Moved a little bit each winter? John Marshall (from sub tropical Australia)
Cool. I just wrote down that quote when you said it in the previous video I watched this morning. It was about looking for Roman road mile markers! Thank you for telling us this quote was from Neil DeGrass Tyson ! 💙💙💙
Fascinating video, very well researched and professionally produced. Thank you! It is something that I am certainly interested in. I understood that the sarsen stones originated from the Valley of Stones, Fyfield Down, about 1km north west of Devil's Den, which in turn is 2.5km due north of West Woods, Marlborough. I have visited the site several times, and there must be thousands of sarsen stones littered across the valley, stretching on as long as the eye can see. Stonehenge is approximately 27km (17m) due south of Valley of Stones. Thanks again for this superb video 👍
Today I had to go to Chirton, decided to go via Lockeridge, Alton Barnes and All Cannings knowing it's a lovely interesting drive. While driving between Lockeridge and Alton Barnes I'm looking at the sat nav altitude slowly creeping up, knowing the drop down into Alton Barnes I'm thinking this has got to be a really old route.
Along the route that was used, there must be at least one stone that was stuck in mud, or is broken or whatever. Probably several. Finding that would be the ultimate proof.
@@pwhitewick using the Ordnance Survey ios app you can automatically generate elevation graph’s like what you manually did. Simply plot a route and it’ll do that for you. It’ll also generate a 3d “aerial view’. (Just in case you didn’t know) 🙂
Oh! This is a really good video! First, I wonder if the analysis of the stones includes isotopic data. Second, a good mathematical method for finding the route of least effort between pairs of minima in a potential energy landscape is called 'climbing nudged elastic band'. It is used for calculating transition states in chemistry and physics, but don't let that put you off! David Nash will likely have some learned colleagues, possibly on the other side of the A27, who can implement it.
Very interesting indeed. Nice to have David there to clearly explain how thing unfolded for their discovery, amazing work. Great work as always guys :)
Excellent, thank you for this. What an exceptional “guest speaker” as well. Fascinating to hear about the science involved in researching a place I grew up so close to.
Delightful video and what hope it leaves with the viewer. I recall Mike Parker Pearson from his Stonehenge work on Time Team. Good to know he is still devoted to the great monument. Thanks so much.
I deliver to a farm at Avebury, the first time I was there I obviously saw the stones. The first one I saw I thought “what a random place for a climbing wall” Then as I drove through the village it became apparent that it wasn’t. I’ve always had a yearning to go to stone henge, I passed through Aylesbury last week and couldn’t see it. Me and a friend are going next solstice, I can’t wait. But the wonder of the stones, where they came from and how they were transported is quite a mystery Maybe one they never wanted known ??
Thank you both for this wonderful little production. Aside from agreeing with the other comments about your production quality, editing, presentation etc, you answered a question I’ve had for close to sixty years. Where was the quarry? There wasn’t a quarry they were boulders which were moved and later shaped. Of course. (Light switches on in brain.). Also learned that Sarcen is a type of rock, not a noun describing the largest of the Stonehenge stones, which in my defence was what I was taught. Oh God am I that old? Yes. Yes I am.
Another wonderful video, thank you for all the effort you put into to making them. I would love to see some pollen analysis for the Avon Valley for the period, that should be able to tell you what plants ere around at the time and thus what the landscape was possibly like, was it just boggy flood plain thick with mud, or was it drier making it a real possibility for bringing the stones down it.
I am interested in, but not knowledgeable about, the landscape around Stonehenge, heights, watercourses, older farmlands , older forests how/ when cleared , roaming beasts (dear, boar , oxen. It is interesting that Dorset and Wiltshire, with a few settlement exceptions, are essentially spaces of nothing, with some ancient settlements , and away from those settlements modern ( as in 800ADish + ) villiages. (compare with Surrey other than heathland sandy soils) or areas at least closer to the Thames which have a relatively dense (aided by railways of course) , population and historic seen build patterns (which may overlay missed older things). But with Stonehenge much burial etc barrows have been ploughed or robbed, and the British Army means of flattening the land for the last 400 years have not been helpful, plus changes in farmstead boundaries have lost some of the context of place, one feels that should stonehenge even have been roofed - like the roundhouses of bronze age (and the coliseum) with tented skins or wood and rushes - though no anchor points are noted on the stones themselves. Also one would expect a ? Central ? Altar if religious - but then look at most churches where the altar is one end, on a given compass alignment where possible, including the mitratic temples in europe and the jerusalem temple - the performance is one from the stage at the end not from a central point ( actually part of this could be like theatre of today - enabling 'props' and so on to be brought on from hidden wing points and behind by supporting technicians to the performers )
Fascinating. Moving things over a landscape including hills and valleys reminds me of Fitzcarraldo - moving a blimmin great boat over some part of the Andes.
Great video. I will grab my map collection first thing in the morning, devise a route and see if it matches yours! At some point I want to recce Alton Barnes below Knap Hill, I just have this hunch that it is more ancient than appearance suggests. Talking of hunches, does this new vid make you more keen to follow my idea about a henge at Cheriton in Hampshire? BTW, did you know there was a henge at Marden? Keep up the good work.
Fascinating! I was able to visit the Salisbury Plain in 1976 when I was in Europe and the Middle East as a teen. Back then we could walk amongst the stones of Stonehenge. But the effort and planning and motivation needed to bring all of the materials together to build Stonehenge was always amazing to me. But I do have a question about an area on your map -- there was an area off to the east marked "Danger Area" -- what was that??????
@@derekp2674 -- Hmmm -- the more that I thought about it, I remembered that there was a portion of the movie Help! with the Beatles, where they filmed the song "I Need You" along with soldiers and tanks from the British military -- I wonder if this is the same area.
Salisbury plain is a live tank testing area, it includes the Durrington walls. This is generally NOT open to the public, only some days of the year are the gen public allowed on some of the restricted parts of Salisbury Plain!
This has really got me thinking now. Trying to work out how my route ties in with all this (think I sent your thoughts on this, which mainly followed the Avon valley?).
The "victory for humanity" quote is from Horace Mann, one of the fathers of modern education and a president of Antioch College in Ohio, USA. It is the school's motto.
Thank you for a fascinating look into the stones. The interview and the composition were excellent. I think I'll re-watch it it and have a couple of beers, it helps with the navigation. Rats , to watch the rest of the interview I have to sign up for 'Wotsit'. Thinks, ' one month of wotsitis is equal to two coffees' Ok dump the coffees.
Interesting vid being a fan of pre history i have read many books on Stonehenge and many other monuments around the country and its really interesting to see how the theorys have changed since William Stuckleys days to today.
In 1987 my geography teacher who was a widely travelled man, did a few lessons on geology and we spent the time listening to his subject on stones coming from Marlborough / Savernake area.
He also stated about the Neolithic era on how wooded the area was, and the link to woodhenge at Durrington.
He was an incredible guy who was ahead of his time and engaged well with students who were less eager (me ! ) to do well. But his encouragement made me stick with it.
Your enthusiasm Paul is like my geography teachers is why I'm here.I
Thanks.
Hi from america. Loving your content
Great vid, fascinating information. Visited Stonehenge in 1964 and touched the stones - 1st & last time as we moved to Aus Xmas 65.
Stumbled upon this randomly and so happy I took the time to watch. Unbelievably professional presentation and extremely entertaining. You would really think these videos are done by big production companies with high budgets. The presenting and editing are excellent. The content intriguing. We will now follow you guys and look forward to all your content. I really do hope you guys grow and grow on RUclips and well deserved it would be. Thank you very much for the work you have put in.
very interesting 🤔👍👍👍 great stuff guys
It's a little known fact that to get the stones from Wales they invented a device they called a Welsh Hauliers Energy Expenditure Lessener that came to be known by it's acronym.
😂😂😂😂
I've heard the Welsh still use this today
When i realised the acronym i loled irl!
Even the flintstones had that technology 💁♂️😂
That was an outstanding video. Informative and very well presented and edited. David Nash was eloquent, modest and very knowledgeable. Thank you both for the time and effort you put in to it. Looking forward to the midweek and bonus videos.
A huge amount of work must have gone into the making of this, absolutely brilliant, thoroughly enjoyed by all the whitewick clan.
Thanks Team. Twas quite a long edit indeed.
I believe Stonehenge was stolen from Ireland by the wizard Merlin, right ?
( sorry but to quote guardians of the galaxy, ‘ I’m pretty much a pro, yeah ! ‘
What a great team you both are , your prep is amazing , and to have a professor giving his time to you .. top job well done .
Fascinating stuff, it's answered some of the questions I had about archaeology.
Thank you, David is on Twitter if you have any more.
Hey Jago Hazzard fan of u and ur channel love your voice
I enjoyed both the lovely landscape (maybe even more because of the season) and the historic part of this video. The amazing effort the neolithic people put into it are a sure sign the Stonehenge site meant a lot to them.
Thank you.
A very interesting and thought provoking video!
All those routes and more.
There was a tramway suggested, however the vegetation could have been burnt off and frosted ground in winter offered the better surface for rollers/sleds drawn by aurochs.
possibly oxen rather than aurochs
hi paul and rebecca , i knew this was going to be really good , very interesting , whatever path was used to get the stones there it was such a great effort , really well done and thank you so much guys 😊
Thanks Davie
Wonderful. The amounts of work that must have taken not to mention all the technical know-how : brilliant.
Clever people!!
well that was a bit different! well done, you two...
Thanks Brett. Yup, like to mix things up
An excellent video, Paul and Rebecca. I cannot even imagine the huge effort involved in moving these massively heavy stones such a long, long way. Has anyone even tried this challenge today? Frankly, I imagine moving such rocks with rollers is too much for us modern humans!
Rotate the work around a large number of people.
Thanks!
Thank you Bob 😊
Thanks for making real (fleshing-out) the exciting stories from Science News or Discover Magazine about the stone having been sourced and transported, (but how?)-
Excellent video. It amused me that that the auto-captions on your conversation mention 'sarcasm stones' and 'marble dancers' - is it suggesting that Stonehenge might have been a Druid comedy venue?
Landscapes can change really quickly.
Very much so
As a Druid, this is a very fine video. It gives me an explanation of how Stonehenge was built.
🖖
And great choice of background tunes throughout. Well done
What a brilliant channel! This popped up as a random suggestion and I'm grateful it did! This was fascinating and I look forward to checking out more of your stuff. Cheers :)
Welcome. 😊
super video; best yet and yours are always fantastic. However, I now have more questions than I had before the video!
That contractor who was asked to build stonehenge must've had a very strong back.
Typical contractor ...... it will be nice when it is finished!
Fascinating episode for sure! I had not heard about the routes before so that part alone was interesting! Between you and David and Tim, I think the on going search for matching silcrete sites will ultimately lead to the discovery of the actual path of the stones! Great episode as usual!
Just a thought, for rejection ..... could the 25 ton blocks have been slid on ice blocks - an ice road in effect? Moved a little bit each winter? John Marshall (from sub tropical Australia)
Cool. I just wrote down that quote when you said it in the previous video I watched this morning. It was about looking for Roman road mile markers! Thank you for telling us this quote was from Neil DeGrass Tyson ! 💙💙💙
Thanks Rebecca and Paul that was really fascinating.
Fascinating video, very well researched and professionally produced. Thank you! It is something that I am certainly interested in. I understood that the sarsen stones originated from the Valley of Stones, Fyfield Down, about 1km north west of Devil's Den, which in turn is 2.5km due north of West Woods, Marlborough. I have visited the site several times, and there must be thousands of sarsen stones littered across the valley, stretching on as long as the eye can see. Stonehenge is approximately 27km (17m) due south of Valley of Stones. Thanks again for this superb video 👍
Today I had to go to Chirton, decided to go via Lockeridge, Alton Barnes and All Cannings knowing it's a lovely interesting drive.
While driving between Lockeridge and Alton Barnes I'm looking at the sat nav altitude slowly creeping up, knowing the drop down into Alton Barnes I'm thinking this has got to be a really old route.
Fantastic 👌👌👌 Katie did an amazing talk for Wiltshire buildings record… very passionate for sure. Great to hear she had played a huge part in this 👍
Along the route that was used, there must be at least one stone that was stuck in mud, or is broken or whatever. Probably several. Finding that would be the ultimate proof.
Fascinating. Equally impressed at you being able to hold that camera at arms length for hours on end 💪
They still ache to this day
@@pwhitewick using the Ordnance Survey ios app you can automatically generate elevation graph’s like what you manually did. Simply plot a route and it’ll do that for you. It’ll also generate a 3d “aerial view’. (Just in case you didn’t know) 🙂
@@davidscottblacksmith oooooops. Never knew this!!
Thanks so much for your film, it's fascinating, all of it. Well done. and a real tonic for me in hospital - bloomin covid! Cheers both of you x
Thank you, get well soon!!
Just to add... am loving your replies! Love, Tim
Ha. Same as me, sick in bed with Chinese Virus on my birthday 🤒
Just brilliant, and to top it off my favourite locations come up on the way.
Thank you, its fast becoming my favourite place to film!
To all involved in this video a very big 👍. A fascinating subject that will go on and on.
Thanks Malcolm.
What a fascinating subject. Very enjoyable. Thank you.
Oh! This is a really good video! First, I wonder if the analysis of the stones includes isotopic data. Second, a good mathematical method for finding the route of least effort between pairs of minima in a potential energy landscape is called 'climbing nudged elastic band'. It is used for calculating transition states in chemistry and physics, but don't let that put you off! David Nash will likely have some learned colleagues, possibly on the other side of the A27, who can implement it.
Very interesting indeed. Nice to have David there to clearly explain how thing unfolded for their discovery, amazing work. Great work as always guys :)
Excellent, thank you for this. What an exceptional “guest speaker” as well. Fascinating to hear about the science involved in researching a place I grew up so close to.
Delightful video and what hope it leaves with the viewer. I recall Mike Parker Pearson from his Stonehenge work on Time Team. Good to know he is still devoted to the great monument.
Thanks so much.
What an interesting video. Excellent drone photography. Well done to both of you.
Thank you for this, really interesting. Keep up the good work
Thanks Paul and Rebecca for the latest 'evolution' on the Stonehenge theories. - Now if I could only get the Spinal Tap song out of my head !
I deliver to a farm at Avebury, the first time I was there I obviously saw the stones. The first one I saw I thought “what a random place for a climbing wall”
Then as I drove through the village it became apparent that it wasn’t.
I’ve always had a yearning to go to stone henge, I passed through Aylesbury last week and couldn’t see it.
Me and a friend are going next solstice, I can’t wait.
But the wonder of the stones, where they came from and how they were transported is quite a mystery
Maybe one they never wanted known ??
and the other question is, why was stonehenge built at that spot ?.
@@johnlambert4031 Absolutely
Thank you both for this wonderful little production. Aside from agreeing with the other comments about your production quality, editing, presentation etc, you answered a question I’ve had for close to sixty years. Where was the quarry? There wasn’t a quarry they were boulders which were moved and later shaped. Of course. (Light switches on in brain.). Also learned that Sarcen is a type of rock, not a noun describing the largest of the Stonehenge stones, which in my defence was what I was taught.
Oh God am I that old? Yes. Yes I am.
Brilliant work. You are an amazing couple and very professional in your output.
It’s not something people would think about. Very fascinating and well put together. Thanks for giving me something else to ponder. 👏👏👍
Thanks Martyn that's absolutely what we aim for.
Very interesting video 📹🤔thank you and please keep the great videos coming friends from Scotland
Will you do this again dragging one of the stones?
Tempting
Fascinating. Great video guys. Thanks
Thank you. Very interesting.
Another good 1 👍🏻👍🏻
amazing video
Another wonderful video, thank you for all the effort you put into to making them.
I would love to see some pollen analysis for the Avon Valley for the period, that should be able to tell you what plants ere around at the time and thus what the landscape was possibly like, was it just boggy flood plain thick with mud, or was it drier making it a real possibility for bringing the stones down it.
Fascinating, The combination of different sciences involved in working these things out is amazing.
Another excellently produced video thank you
Well done guys really good watch, somewhere ive never been but the fact we can never know exactly why an how makes the place all the more fascinating
I am interested in, but not knowledgeable about, the landscape around Stonehenge, heights, watercourses, older farmlands , older forests how/ when cleared , roaming beasts (dear, boar , oxen. It is interesting that Dorset and Wiltshire, with a few settlement exceptions, are essentially spaces of nothing, with some ancient settlements , and away from those settlements modern ( as in 800ADish + ) villiages. (compare with Surrey other than heathland sandy soils) or areas at least closer to the Thames which have a relatively dense (aided by railways of course) , population and historic seen build patterns (which may overlay missed older things). But with Stonehenge much burial etc barrows have been ploughed or robbed, and the British Army means of flattening the land for the last 400 years have not been helpful, plus changes in farmstead boundaries have lost some of the context of place, one feels that should stonehenge even have been roofed - like the roundhouses of bronze age (and the coliseum) with tented skins or wood and rushes - though no anchor points are noted on the stones themselves. Also one would expect a ? Central ? Altar if religious - but then look at most churches where the altar is one end, on a given compass alignment where possible, including the mitratic temples in europe and the jerusalem temple - the performance is one from the stage at the end not from a central point ( actually part of this could be like theatre of today - enabling 'props' and so on to be brought on from hidden wing points and behind by supporting technicians to the performers )
Brilliant, what a superb guest for you.
what a superb video sorry i have only just found it. Love the work you do far better than the tv!
Welcome
Brilliant, fascinating and interesting. Thank you 👍👍
Absolutely fantastic, a very interesting video.
Many thanks!
Always enjoy your content! I wondered about a potential for a mini ice age in the times they transported the stones for stonehenge??
Excellent, informative feature video. How is your filming arm doing? Thank you for the great work.
My arms ached for days!!!
Brilliant video please keep them coming
Thank you Wizard
Fascinating. Moving things over a landscape including hills and valleys reminds me of Fitzcarraldo - moving a blimmin great boat over some part of the Andes.
A very interesting video indeed. :) I did go to Stonehenge myself in 2018 and I've wondered where that all came from.
Fantastic investigations of a fascinating subject, thank you both very much.
Thanks mark.
Great documentary along another Whitewick route explore. Enjoyed.
Great video. I will grab my map collection first thing in the morning, devise a route and see if it matches yours!
At some point I want to recce Alton Barnes below Knap Hill, I just have this hunch that it is more ancient than appearance suggests. Talking of hunches, does this new vid make you more keen to follow my idea about a henge at Cheriton in Hampshire?
BTW, did you know there was a henge at Marden?
Keep up the good work.
Very informative
Thanks Gregory
Fantastic research and photography - enjoyed immensely
Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you, I've been waiting months to see this and you didn't disappoint =)
Honestly, I was wondering if you two were going to cover Stone Henge. I'm glad you covered all this, very interesting.
Took us a while!
Absolutely fascinating and such beautiful countryside thank you I would love to visit there one day 😉👍🏻🍻💙🇬🇧
Fascinating! I was able to visit the Salisbury Plain in 1976 when I was in Europe and the Middle East as a teen. Back then we could walk amongst the stones of Stonehenge. But the effort and planning and motivation needed to bring all of the materials together to build Stonehenge was always amazing to me. But I do have a question about an area on your map -- there was an area off to the east marked "Danger Area" -- what was that??????
My guess is that the "danger area" would be due to an army firing range.
@@derekp2674 -- Hmmm -- the more that I thought about it, I remembered that there was a portion of the movie Help! with the Beatles, where they filmed the song "I Need You" along with soldiers and tanks from the British military -- I wonder if this is the same area.
Salisbury plain is a live tank testing area, it includes the Durrington walls. This is generally NOT open to the public, only some days of the year are the gen public allowed on some of the restricted parts of Salisbury Plain!
This has really got me thinking now. Trying to work out how my route ties in with all this (think I sent your thoughts on this, which mainly followed the Avon valley?).
Thanks for another great video. very interesting. cant wait for the next one :o)
I always thought the stones were ‘Huge Erratics’ dumped when the ice sheet melted.
very interesting i really enjoyed it , doesn't arm holding the camera & tripod out
Very interesting! Thanks.
Fascinating video. How would you plan a route like that? Did they ride horses 3000BC? Why was the current site picked?
Great video on a great subject
Stonehenge the mystery that keeps on giving.
Knapp Hill, East Field, UFO’s and Crop Circles. I absolutely love the corner of Wiltshire. Great video.
Great use of Excel - as well as an excellent interview - this must have taken some time to prepare and edit!
The blue stones could have been glacial deposits.
Love your hair Rebecca!!
Brilliant informative video.
Absolutely fascinating.
Wonderful video, and very enlightening. I always assumed that the stones would be transported by the easiest route, and not the most sacred one.
Absolutely likewise Chris
The "victory for humanity" quote is from Horace Mann, one of the fathers of modern education and a president of Antioch College in Ohio, USA. It is the school's motto.
Now you have said that.... rings a bell
Thank you for a fascinating look into the stones. The interview and the composition were excellent. I think I'll re-watch it it and have a couple of beers, it helps with the navigation. Rats , to watch the rest of the interview I have to sign up for 'Wotsit'. Thinks, ' one month of wotsitis is equal to two coffees' Ok dump the coffees.
A great film, and a fascinating subject - very impressive!
Many thanks!
Interesting vid being a fan of pre history i have read many books on Stonehenge and many other monuments around the country and its really interesting to see how the theorys have changed since William Stuckleys days to today.
Fascinating 👍
What a great effort you guys pit into this!
Bob Alberta.