CHAPTER 3

THE MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS OF ENGLAND

While still working in Brazil and browsing the web for craters, circular

structures, megaliths and related topics, I inevitably came around to

viewing images of the megaliths and henges of Western Europe, in

particular the massive blocks that have gone into the standing stone

circles of Avebury and Stonehenge. I became convinced that I could see

similar textures and shapes in the megaliths to those in the rocks that I

had been examining in the diamondiferous ejecta deposits in Brazil and

that are described in the impact-generated deposits of Belize (Figure 2-

14).

Returning to England in 2002, I soon made a beeline to Avebury where

unlike at Stonehenge, the sarsen stone megaliths may still be examined close-up. My suspicions were readily confirmed, as the sarsen stones are

an incredibly tough quartzite and show abundant annealed fractures,

clusters of deep, often perfectly circular (in cross section) tubular cavities,

rounded edges, glazing, iron oxide rinds, often confined to one or two

faces, Hertzian fracture rings, large hemispherical indentations and

intruded foreign matter, all features that are seen in impact ejecta. Some

archaeologists and New Agers believe that they can see human faces, replicas of human genitalia and all sorts of wondrous artefacts on the

stones, but it is quite clear that the majority of these superficial features

are natural, including their overall dimensions as well as the cup marks or cupules of the archaeologists. Artificial shaping of the sarsens at Stonehenge is almost entirely restricted to the crude mortice and tenon

jointing of the trilithons and possibly some minor squaring up of the

lintels. The sarsen material is simply too tough to carve, even with tools made of modern alloys. In the absence of concentrated hydrofluoric

acid rain, the numerous broad hemispherical indentation hollows, the V-

shaped cross sections of annealed fractures and the trumpet-shaped

flaring of otherwise cylindrical impact cavities, must be attributed to

atmospheric ablation during ballistic flight, rather than weathering or human effort. Due to the intense heat created by impact, the sarsen

stones actually became malleable, explaining the annealed and often

curved fractures, deep penetration by colliding particles and the overall

plastic appearance.

Figures 3-1 to 3-5 illustrate most of the features referred to above. It is

widely believed that those hollows that are not carved cupules are weathered-out plant roots in the original sand deposits that are thought to have been the origin of the sarsens. While there is some evidence of

fossil root-like matter in some of the smaller stones, it may be shown that

they were ablated, or burned out during ballistic transportation.

However, the larger holes were created by collisions with smaller

particles while the hot megaliths were still in flight in the ejecta curtain(s)

(Figure 3-6). Figure 3-7 shows two examples of preserved impacted

matter. As an example of fossil matter in sarsen stones, Figure 3-8 shows

remains of two animal bones that have been largely burned out during

ballistic flight.

Figure 3-1. One of the sarsen megaliths of the main circle at Avebury.

Located at the top right of 3-1a, 3-1b shows five impact hollows having various

depths of penetration and angles of incidence of colliding particles. Note how the

iron oxide crust has largely been flayed off, but still survives in the flared mouths of

the hollows.

Located at lower right of 3-1a, 3-1c shows abundant Hertzian fracture rings

developed on a surface so smoothed by atmospheric ablation that lichen cannot take

hold.

Located at lower left of 3-1a, 3-1d shows faintly rifled impact hollows at varied

angles, some surviving iron oxide crust and a generally ragged appearance, believed

to represent the trailing edge to the megalith during much of its ballistic travel.

Figure 3-2. Various megaliths of the Avebury monument to show the overall plastic

appearance and the V-shaped flaring of fractures due to atmospheric ablation during

ballistic flight.

In 3-2d, striations and impact hollows indicating much of the ballistic flight of the

stone was with the upper left part being the leading edge. Incidentally, this megalith

is known as the Barber Stone, as an itinerant barber-surgeon was squashed beneath it in the early 14

th Century, while helping topple it for break-up for masonry

work.

Figure 3-3. Looking NW along the main megalith circle towards the heart of Avebury

village. The second stone shows heavy fracturing created in the initial cratering

process, yet the coherence of the megalith as a whole indicates that extreme heat

flooded the target rocks immediately prior to ejection. Note the curving,

discontinuous nature of the fractures in the first stone and the V-shaped flaring of the

fractures, the latter caused by in-flight ablation.

Figure 3-4. The wobbly rectangular shapes at Stonehenge stand in strong contrast to

the stones at Avebury and, indeed, to any other collection of sarsens seen anywhere.

Whereas the shapes are believed to be largely artificial by the archaeologists, close

examination shows the same impact hollows caused by mutual interference in the

ejecta curtain, the same V-shaped flaring of discontinuous fractures caused by in-

flight atmospheric ablation and some faces of the megaliths show thin coatings of

secondary iron oxide; all natural features of ejecta blocks. Even in detail, the super

square shapes of the lintels of the trilithons may be shown to be natural, probably

reflecting jointing and stratification in the precursor target rocks.

Figure 3-5. Several of the recumbent megaliths of Stonehenge, such as the Heel Stone

shown here, are far from square and show all of the signs of the impact ejecta origin

of other sarsens stones around England. As an aside, try fitting this stone in the

minds eye into the scenario on the Martian surface shown in Figure 9-5.

Figure 3-6. Various examples from the Avebury monument and nearby Marlborough

Downs to show that the cupules are neither carved nor weathered-out roots but rather were created by mutual collisions of particles in the ejecta curtains, while

the now incredibly hard and tough sarsen stones were still hot and malleable. Note

radial fractures around the head-sized hole in 3-6c.

In 3-6e, note the double indentations, where spalling of the harder, congealing shell

to the megalith has taken place around impacts by relatively small projectiles.

Figure 3-7. Occasionally, impacted particles may be found at the termini of impact

pits. 3-7a shows a shattered cobble of flint impacted into sarsen, while 3-7b shows

remnants of an iron oxide projectile in the left hole. Beware, though; the used

batteries, cheap rings, polished quartz pebbles, chewing gum and wrappers, etc., left

by the New Age folk as votive offerings during the summer solstice, should not be

confused for the real thing!

Figure 3-8. 3-8a shows a short row of standing sarsen stones in the more southerly of

the two inner circles at Avebury. Note the curved, discontinuous fractures, with

characteristic V-shaped cross sections, in the first and third stone, as well as the

partial iron oxide coatings on the three front stones. In the first stone there are two

grooves forming a V-shape. In close-up (3-8b) two separate fossil bones, possibly

mammalian rib bones, are seen to have been partially burned out during ballistic

flight.

Looking beyond the megaliths stood in circles by ancient people, it is

instructive to examine smaller stones in field walls, barns, churches and

homes in the villages, towns and farms in those parts of southern England

where wild sarsen stone occurrences are noted. In the village of Avebury, for example, there are some stones incorporated into walls

dating back to medieval times, that with their iron oxide crusts, deep

circular indentations, Hertzian rings and overall rounded appearance

(Figures 3-9 and 3-10) could have come from the diamondfields of Brazil

or from around some well documented impact craters in Europe.

Figure 3-9. Two mini-sarsens built into medieval walls in Avebury village. Note

oxide crusts, Hertzian fracture rings, circular and elongated impact pits, as well as

overall rounding.

Figure 3-10. The very numerous tiny pits in 3-10a may well be due to the ablation

penetration of fossil root matter, but the deep grooves and striations and the overall

iron oxide coating point to this mini-sarsen (the only seating provided at the Avebury

bus stop) being a complete ejecta block. The dimples and partial oxide coating in 3-

10b were acquired in ballistic flight.

Many archaeologists who show any interest in the actual origin of the

sarsen stones, and who are prepared to think beyond the mystical, suggest

that they may be glacially transported erratics. Others tend to promote

the explanation favoured by the British Geological Survey (BGS), that

the stones are isolated, silicified remnants of a once more or less

continuous sand deposit, that in early Tertiary times was draped up-hill

and down-dale on top of the Upper Cretaceous Chalk. (Note that the

BGS uses the term hardpan silcrete for the sarsen stones see silcrete in Chapter 6.) The provenance of this pure silica sand on top of the pure

carbonate uplands is not explained by the BGS. Neither explanation may

be supported in the field at any of the several locations in southern

England where sarsen stones have been preserved in their original

positions, free from the ravages of Ancient Brits and the builders of

churches, houses, field walls, gateposts, roads, railways, bridges, sea

defences and canals in later times. Figures 3-11 to 3-16 illustrate areas

where sarsen stones remain unmolested.

Figure 3-11. Wild sarsen stones preserved to the west of Lockeridge village, 4.5 km SE of the Avebury stone circles. Note the flared hole passing right through the

stone in 3-11c, which must be contrasted with the sharp edges at the broken end of the

stone.

Figure 3-12. Sarsen stones at the Valley of Stones in Dorset, over 100 km SW of

Avebury. The flint-rich material seen in 3-12a and 3-12b is somewhat whimsically

named Hertfordshire Puddingstone where found in areas north of London and

where it is never found in outcrop just superficial blocks, like the sarsens. In the nearby village of Portesham, large sarsens were simply built over or around; a huge

lump lies in the middle of the school playground, on the other side of the street from

3-12c. It is worth noting that the stones shown in 3-12a and 3-12b lie at 185 metres

ASL, whereas those in the Portesham village lie at 65 metres, with 1.5 km distance

between the two sites. In 3-12a, there is nothing to indicate that the stones have

suffered downhill transportation by the freeze-thaw processes so often cited for their

local concentration. Indeed, although there appears to be a concentration along the

valley floor, the centre of the scene marks a concentration of stones in an ill-defined

line coming up the hill towards the viewer. Note also the large hemi-spherical impact

hollow in the larger foreground stone in 3-12a.

Figure 3-13. A field of preserved sarsen stones at Fyfield Bottom, 4 km ESE of

Avebury village. The stone in 3-13b was certainly not shaped by weathering!

Figure 3-14. Sarsens sitting shallowly on a flat field of dark loam (see mole hills) at

Ashdown House in Berkshire, some 23 km NE of Avebury. 3-14b clearly shows relict

stratification.

Figure 3-15. The most extensive area of preserved sarsen stones, still resting more or

less where they landed following ballistic emplacement, is in an area known as

Overton Down, immediately to the east and northeast of Avebury. The megalith in 3-

15a is the size of a small bus. 3-15b shows a variety of shapes and degrees of oxide

coating. The plastic appearance of some sarsens is readily seen in 3-15c. It is not

uncommon to see a string of sarsen stones as in 3-15d. The rounded plastic nature of

the large stone in the foreground should be contrasted with the angularity of the stone

just beyond it.

Figure 3-16. Also on Overton Down. Shows the densest cluster of wild sarsens that I have found anywhere. The strange cut-off in sarsen distribution at the break of

slope is repeated along a distinct line extending 2 km to the SE. An explanation is

still sought.

3-16b shows some differences in lithology within the cluster of 3-16a, with three

blocks of more yellow sarsen. There is considerable contrast in the shapes of the

stones, with sharp edged stones adjacent to rounded, plastic shapes.

I have collected seven samples of sarsen stones from widely separated

locations in southern England and have prepared thin sections for

microscopic examination. In all of the samples, shocked quartz

(diagnostic of the effects of impact or underground nuclear testing),

exhibited by numerous secondary planar laminae, varies from detectable

to abundant (Figure 3-17). Some reluctant specialists claim that some

secondary planar features in quartz may also be generated by intense

tectonic deformation, rather than impact shock. However, such an

explanation would hardly serve for lumps of rock sitting lightly on top of

the Chalk in this little-deformed terrain.

Figure 3-17. Planar deformation features (most are distorted due to multiple

impacting) in quartz grains from various samples of sarsens, indicate moderate shock

and are diagnostic of an impact origin. Quartz in thin sections of un-shocked rocks is

water-clear. Note that 3-17d and 3-17e represent the same field of view, with 3-17d

using cross polarised light and 3-17e using plain polarized light.

So, if the sarsen megaliths of the Avebury stone circles and of

Stonehenge may be shown to be artificial arrangements of blocks that

were left lying around the countryside by ballistic means, what about the

legendary bluestones that make up a lesser portion of the Stonehenge monument? The word bluestone is collectively applied to various volcanic and sedimentary lithologies used in the monument, including 32

spotted and unspotted dolerites, 5 rhyolite tuffs, 2 micaceous sandstones

and the single green sandstone block known as the altar stone. As entirely similar lithologies occur in the Preseli Hills of North

Pembrokeshire in SW Wales, which lie approximately 225 km to the

WNW of Stonehenge there is general agreement that the bluestones came

from there. But, how were they transported?

Some archaeologists (and even some geologists) have called for glacial

transportation of the bluestones, however, anyone familiar with what

glaciers powerful enough to transport morainic material for such

distances can do to soft rock formations such as the Chalk would never

even dream of such a mechanism.

An alternative mechanism for bluestone transportation; that is by human

effort, has been championed for some time now and has been the subject

of several popular documentaries and numerous learned papers.

However, efforts to replicate heaving the stones overland to the sea coast,

humping them onto rafts for sea and river transportation, ready for the

long slog up to the Salisbury Plain, have ended in early failure.

I recently paid a brief visit to the Preseli Hills and the surrounding

lowlands and I found precisely what I expected to find. Ignoring the finer

grade material, there are two types of megalithic occurrences present in

the region. Type A are those usually rather angular blocks that are

derived from numerous tor-like outcrops and which are confined to the

steeper slopes surrounding the outcrops. Gravity can only distribute them

so far before they reach their natural angle of repose, that is, in the

absence of any fluidisation processes such as tsunamis (tidal waves) or

seismic shaking, both of which may have been periodically operative for

reasons given below. The second type of megalith, Type B, is strewn all

over the place, regardless of topography. These are usually sub-angular

to rounded and some have distinctive shard-like or axe head shapes. That some, be they lying on scree slopes of the Type A occurrences or

lying in a clump of boulders in a flat field, have significantly different

lithologies to their immediately adjoining neighbours, strongly suggests

that they are blocks ejected from large impact craters. In many cases, the

shapes of these megalithic blocks and their erratic distribution are

strongly reminiscent of the sarsen stones.

Figures 3-18 and 3-19 illustrate the distinction between Type A and Type

B megaliths.

Figure 3-18. The Pentre Ifan dolmen is built with Type B megaliths as are the bases

of all of the boundary hedges between pastures that were once strewn by stones of all

sizes. The Type A megaliths are true scree-type material derived by erosion and

gravity from such tors or carns seen in the distance.

Figure 3-19. In the foreground pasture in 3-19a there are three cows and two very

large Type B bluestone blocks. Smaller stones have been moved aside to form the

bases for the boundary hedges. All of the hedges seen on the rolling hills in the

background have similar stone bases. These stones and those of the scenes below

could not have arrived in position by normal erosional and gravity processes, nor

were they glacially transported: 3-19b and 3-19c show nearly level pastures where

the Type B stones have been left exactly as they landed following ballistic flight.

What is suggested, then, is that both the sarsen stones and the bluestones

ended up on the Salisbury Plain by ballistic means. The location of

impact craters responsible for the ejected material will require detailed

provenance studies, but there is undoubtedly plenty of room for them in

the English Channel, the Bristol Channel, the North Sea and the Irish Sea,

in all of which, deep arcuate embayments, underlain by the requisite

lithologies, would constitute prime candidates. Returning to the specific

problem of the ballistic mixing of sarsen stones and bluestones in the

vicinity of Stonehenge, it must be recognised that a great deal of the

primary evidence has been modified, because such hard, erosion resistant

material was a godsend to earlier builders. However, the rocks have not

evaporated and a systematic study of stone walls in a narrow swath of

terrain between the Preseli Hills and Salisbury Plain will definitively

prove the contention presented here.

Like some of the megaliths in the diamondfields of Brazil, the sarsen

stones and the ejected bluestones of Wales show by their superficiality on

the landscape that they are of geologically very recent origin. As the

sarsen stones, in particular, show abundant signs of having been heated to

many hundreds of degrees, it would be reasonable to expect charred

vegetation to have been trapped below them. Judicious lifting of some

wild sarsens in a variety of locations may well provide carbon for

accurate dating by the Carbon 14 method.

Although still a work in progress evidence is emerging from around the

margins of the North Sea and on the Isle of Wight that the impacting took

place at the end of the Pleistocene and that the sarsen stones are impact-

generated spall plates, derived from the Barton Sand unit of Late Eocene age.

If indeed I have shown that there is an impact generated origin for the

sarsen stones and the bluestones, then I believe it would be appropriate to

re-examine scores of other monumental stone circles, avenues, dolmens

and stand-alone monoliths, not only in western Europe, but many other

locations worldwide for a similar origin of the stones.

One parting shot, before moving on to other topics: William Stukeley, in

his documentation of the Avebury stone circles in the 1720s, presented a

panoramic engraving, viewing the scenery of the monuments looking to

the North (Figure 3-20). The outer stone circle is shown with the two

inner circles, as well as two somewhat serpentine appendages; the

southwesterly-trending Beckhampton Avenue and the southeasterly-

trending West Kennet Avenue. Roughly centrally disposed between the

ends of the two avenues is the conical Silbury Hill, reputedly the largest

artificial mound in Europe. Is it just possible (and I admit to being

somewhat out of my depth here) that the Avebury stone circles and

avenues are monuments to a catastrophic collision of a comet with Earth,

the awesome memory of which was verbally passed down the

generations, the story originating from a few survivors from distant parts?

What is more fitting than a monument made of the very products of the

horrific occasion; the ejected blocks that mercilessly rained down upon

the people for a brief but highly memorable period? At the time of

construction of the monument, the 6 metres deep trench and the outer ring

mound were of shining white chalk rock perhaps symbolic of the

periodic, then ever-nearing approach of the comet itself. Could the

serpentine avenues have represented the comet tails, albeit somewhat

embellished by repeated story telling? The only other object in the

firmament that was brighter than the comet was the Sun, which could be

represented by the conical hill of gleaming white chalk, Silbury Hill. No

more fanciful than the icons to and the deification of Japanese and

American aircraft by the peoples of Papua-New Guinea, even if a lot

more hard work!

Figure 3-20. William Stukeleys engraving of the Avebury scene.