Latest news with #SalisburyMuseum
BBC News
5 days ago
- Science
- BBC News
Humans took boulders from Wales to Stonehenge, study finds
Boulders at Stonehenge were taken to the monument's site by humans, rather than dragged there by glaciers, new scientific research ancient monument, near Salisbury in south-west England, was built with stones from all parts of Great Britain, including the smaller bluestone megaliths, most of which came from north Pembrokeshire, 140 miles (225km) many archaeologists believe the smaller bluestones from the Preseli Hills were transported by humans, others believe they were transported by glacial ice long before Stonehenge was a research team at Aberystwyth University says its work shows there is "no evidence" to support the ice transport theory. The bluestones are believed to have been among the first erected at the Wiltshire site about 5,000 years team's work focused on the so-called Newall Boulder, a 22x15x10cm rock excavated at Stonehenge in 1924 orginally from Craig Rhos-y-Felin in on previous work, the researchers presented new data which shows the boulder, now in the collection of the Salisbury Museum, In an article published in the Journal for Archaeological Research, Professor Richard Bevins concludes there is "no evidence for ice extending as far south as Salisbury Plain", where the monument is located."New evidence allows us to reiterate our earlier interpretation that the boulder is not a glacial erratic but rather is derived from a fragmented monolith at Stonehenge [...] transported from Craig Rhos-y-Felin to Stonehenge by Neolithic people," the article saysThe team's work challenged a competing theory that the boulder was reduced in size and heavily modified during glacial transport, and was eventually dumped at or relatively close to the Salisbury Plain. The theory that the boulder's shape was changed by ice is supported by five arguments related to its shape, including its crude bullet shape Professor Bevin and his team most of the characteristics cited "could be simply generated by surface weathering".If the bluestones were transported by ice part even of the way from their source in west Wales towards Stonehenge, there should be erratics - rocks that have been transported by glaciers - from the Preseli Mountains in west and south Wales, they while there are erratics in some areas, "there is no record of the very distinctive spotted dolerite used at Stonehenge", the researchers added that the "total absence" of spotted dolorite - the distinctive rock known as bluestone - further east than the Narberth area in Pembrokeshire, and the evidence for Neolithic stone extraction at both Craig Rhos-y-Felin argue "strongly in favour of human transport".
BBC News
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Salisbury artist hopes exhibition will 'repay iconic museum'
An artist hopes his first exhibition will repay a museum that has become a "cultural icon" in his Wiltshire soldier Roy Wilde is "delighted" that Salisbury Museum is staging his The Downland and Valleys of South Wiltshire exhibition, which is running until mid-July. Mr Wilde, who served for 37 years in the Royal Fusiliers, started painting and volunteering at the museum after he hopes his paintings, which includes several views of Salisbury Cathedral, will offer a "little bit of a repayment", because he sees the museum as a cultural icon that is "overlooked by a lot of people". Mr Wilde said he originally worked in water colours as they were "more portable" and he could paint what he saw "wherever he was". "I developed a fascination for the contrasting landscapes of open downland, its ancient features and the variety of the sheltered valleys, with their churches," he recent years, Mr Wilde has worked in oils and acrylics. His exhibition reflects his changing styles and promotes local landscapes.
