Heelstone Carvings "Quartz Hydration"

[Garry Denke]

Heelstone Carvings "Quartz Hydration"

 

The new technique, called "Quartz Hydration", takes advantage of the natural properties of quartz, a mineral found in many rocks. Whenever a rock containing quartz is cut or polished, as in the world famous Lion head, Calf head, Man face, and Eagle wings' Heelstone Carvings at Stonehenge, the quartz at the surface is left exposed. Over time, water diffuses into the quartz, forming a layer. By measuring the layer, how long ago the rock was cut is determined. The technique can be used to date stone carvings that were created between 100 and about 100,000 years ago. A paper outlining the technique is available in the current issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, dated July 2004.

 

http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1123

 

REPORT ON THE EXCAVATIONS AT STONEHENGE DURING THE SEASON OF 1923

William Hawley

Antiquaries Journal. J., 5

1925

21-50

 

STONEHENGE

R.J.C. Atkinson

PENGUIN BOOKS

in association with Hamish Hamilton

1956

ISBN 0140136460

INDEX 221

Carvings, modern, 33-4, 46-7

prehistoric, 43-7, 91-3, 139-40,

178-9, 208-9

Heel Stone, 29-30,68-9, 70, 76,

105, 173, 203

 

STONEHENGE

in its landscape

Twentieth-century excavations

Rosamund M J Cleal, K E Walker, and R Montague

with major contributions by

Michael J Allen, Alex Bayliss, C Bronk Ramsey, Linda Coleman,

Julie Gardiner, P A Harding, Rupert Housley, Andrew J Lawson,

Gerry McCormac, Jacqueline I McKinley, Andrew Payne,

Robert G Scaife, Dale Serjeantson, and Geoff Wainwright

ENGLISH HERITAGE

1995

ARCHAEOLOGICAL REPORT 10

ISBN 1850746052

INDEX 603, 608

carvings, prehistoric 30-3,

Plate 7.2

Heelstone (Stone 96)

25, 26, 166, 269, 270, 271, 272

 

PROCEEDINGS OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY . 92

Science and Stonehenge

Edited by

BARRY CUNLIFFE & COLIN RENFREW

Published for THE BRITISH ACADEMY

by OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

1997

ISBN 0197261744

INDEX 351, 355

carvings, prehistoric 5, 29, 35, 150, 338

distribution 150, 163, 190

Heelstone (Stone 96) 15, 16, 28, 155

 

HENGEWORLD

Mike Pitts

C

CENTURY . LONDON

2000

ISBN 0712679545

INDEX 402, 403

Stonehenge

carvings 8, 26, 265-6, 296-7, 27,

266

Heelstone 8, 96, 135, 139,

145-50, 154, 229, 266, 275, 7,

138, 146, 230

 

http://www.freewebs.com/garrydenke/

[Garry Denke]

Quartz Hydration Dating (QHD) Stonehenge Heelstone Carvings

 

In 22 separate excavations, for which the detailed records are published, a total of "over 11,500 stone fragments were recorded" (PROCEEDINGS AT THE BRITISH ACADEMY . 92, SCIENCE AND STONEHENGE, Cunliffe & Renfrew, 1997, pages 258-9) at Stonehenge, representing all of its different lithologies. Approximately 4,000 sarsen chips, including "a total of 3,760 sarsen fragments", and "sarsen sand from the area", excavated by Lieutenant-Colonel William Hawley (REPORT ON THE EXCAVATIONS AT STONEHENGE DURING THE SEASON OF 1923, W. Hawley, 1925, pages 21-50), from a single location within ten (10)meters of the Heelstone, in the Avenue between the Heelstone and the Slaughter Stone, "do strongly suggest that a stone was either dressed or broken up in the vicinity" (STONEHENGE, Cleal, Walker, Montague, 1995, page 290), in front of the Heelstone carvings:

 

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/

 

In 1975, Arizona State University (ASU) GLG 324 Petrology-Petrography class analyzed the Cainozoic Reading Formation sarsen samples provided by Professor Richard Atkinson from the London Basin, the Hampshire Basin, and from each of the sarsens at Stonehenge. The ASU 1975 GLG 324 Petrology-Petrography class determined through optical mineralogy and geochemical analysis that the source area of the Palaeogene-Oligocene age heavy mineralogy Heelstone was from the Hampshire Basin located to the south of Stonehenge, and all of the rest of the Neogene-Miocene age lighter mineralogy sarsens at Stonehenge were from the London Basin to the north of Stonehenge. It was from this first detailed analysis by ASU in 1975, and the subsequent works of H. Howard 1982; A petrological study of the rock specimens from excavations at Stonehenge, 1979-1980, in M.W. Pitts, 1982, 104-24, where the Heelstone carvings fragment chips from its petroglyphs were determined. In short, the piles of sarsen chips and sarsen sand in front of the Heelstone, "do strongly suggest that a stone was either dressed or broken up in the vicinity" (STONEHENGE, Cleal, Walker, Montague, 1995, page 290), in front of the Heelstone carvings:

 

QHD of ASU's Heelstone carvings' chips (7) measured 2,800 ya.

 

 

http://www.freewebs.com/garrydenke/