Evidently the early mason found the cutting of these tenons by no
means an easy task, for, with two exceptions, the workmanship is not
remarkable. Luckily for the observer to-day the tenon on the remaining
upright of the Great Trilithon is very strongly marked, and stands out
boldly on its apex, thus affording a clue to those existing on other
stones. The mortice holes were easier to accomplish. A small
depression may have been made first of all, and then a round stone
inserted with sand and water. In this way a smooth hollow could soon
be worn. This principle is and has been applied by stone-using peoples
in all quarters of the globe. The rough dovetailing of the lintels of
the outer circle would present no difficulty to users of the tools
already mentioned.
To-day the surfaces of the Sarsens bear undoubted signs of weather,
but in the Stonehenge of yesterday the Sarsens were beautifully
finished with rough tooling all over their surface. This final finish
was achieved by the Quartzite Hammers (Class IV.). A very beautiful
piece of this work was discovered by Mr. Gowland in 1901. In the
process of raising the upright of the Great Trilithon, a thin slab of
that part of the stone which had been buried in the foundation became
detached. The tooling upon this fragment is absolutely perfect, and as
clean and sharp as it was when it left the hand of the craftsman about
four thousand years ago. So remarkable was the workmanship that
experiments were made on pieces of Sarsen with various materials to
endeavour to secure the same quality of surface, during which it was
found that whereas the ordinary masons' chisels of to-day failed to
produce the effect, a quartzite pebble used as a tool at once
reproduced the character and surface of the original finish on the
Trilithon.
The foreign stones appear to have been treated in a very similar
manner, but it is not possible to discuss this with the same detail as
in the case of the Sarsens, for the body of the rock to be dealt with
varied vastly in quality and fracture. The method of dressing by
pounding was probably not adopted. Quantities of small chippings from
the foreign stones were found in 1901, so many indeed as to justify
the claim that these stones were actually dressed on the spot, and not
partly shaped before being transported to the circle, as in the case
of the Sarsens. This at once disposes of a popular and ingenious
suggestion that the foreign stones were originally a temple elsewhere,
and that in migrating to Salisbury Plain, the tribe had brought their
temple with them.
THE PROCESS OF ERECTION
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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