[Sca-cooks] Circles (was Period gifts in jars + question)

[Martin G. Diehl]

ranvaig at columbus.rr.com wrote:
> 
> >
> >e.g. Stones of Stenness gets my attention with estimates
> >of as much as 350,000 man hours to erect Stennes, Ring of
> >Brodgar, and the ditch that connects the 2 sites.  I may
> >always wonder how they could reallocate 350,000 man hours
> >out of their food economy 4,500 to 5,000 years ago.
> >(ob food comment, to 'stay' on topic  <g> )

Thank you for your comments.  

> Men haven't changed, they get together, drink some beer 
> (OFC), and say "I bet we could get a BIGGER stone up 
> there!"

They had beer then?  <g> 

Yes, bigger.  Brodgar: Dated to Ca. 2,700 BC; circle 370 
ft, across; rock cut ditch 30 ft wide, 10 ft deep, 80,000
man hours to remove 12,000 tons of rock; ring of 
(originally) 60 standing stones (now only 29), most stones 
average 7 ft high, at 2 cardinal points: south 12.5 ft 
high and west 15.25 ft high, area is over 90,000 sq ft.  

Stenness: Carbon dated Ca. 3,050 BC; ditch 19 ft wide and 
6 ft deep; bank  21 ft wide by 6 ft high; ring of towering 
stones -- perhaps 11 or 12 originally, but now 4 remaining, 
might have been set in an ellipse 106 ft by 98 ft or a 
circle 104 ft diameter; the largest remaining stone is 
18 ft 9 in high by 4 ft 7 in wide but only 10 in thick and 
weighing 6 tons; other stones 17 ft 4 in and 15 ft 9 in.

The two rings may have been linked by a line of standing 
stones.  

One of my references quotes Shelley, 

	Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair! 
	Nothing beside remains.  Round the decay 
	Of that colossal wreck ... 
                                       Ozymandias

> More seriously, this was done over time.  They didn't 
> take 350,000 hours all in one year.  Seventy men meeting 
> for a week, spending a hundred hours each,  every year 
> for fifty years... or every ten years over 500 years 
> would do it.  (And these numbers are completely pulled 
> out of the air).
> 
> Ranvaig 

Yes, the work could have been done over some period of 
time.  With that assumption, we have to wonder how the 
project was planned and continued to work toward that 
goal over a time span of 50 to 500 years.  

The way I see it, the effort to complete those sites 
remains an enormous puzzle no matter how we look at it. 

Even so, they still had to feed all of who came to work 
-- just as we do at an SCA event and feast.  

Vincenzo

-- 
Martin G. Diehl

http://www.renderosity.com/gallery.ez?ByArtist=Yes&Artist=MGD

Reality: That which remains after you stop thinking about it.
  inspired by P. K. Dick