Ahh, but absence of evidence isn’t necessarily evidence of absence.
The fact that Salisbury Plain is mostly clear of stones now doesn’t mean it was that way in the past. Remember, Wiltshire and Somerset is some of the most intensively farmed and occupied real estate on the planet and has been for thousands of years and farmers spend a lot of time and effort removing obstacles like big rocks from their land.
There are a few small parts of the area that have apparently never been farmed or developed and offer a glimpse of the Mesolithic/Neolithic environment. One of them is called Lockeridge Dene and it’s now protected by law.
Here’s a photo of one of the main meadows and, as you can see, it’s covered with glacially moved rocks.
http://www.fotolibra.com/gallery/1180386/sarsen-stones-lockeridge-dene-wiltshire/
I was lucky enough to visit it after a trip to Stonehenge and it’s a magical place. In fact, I’d recommend to anyone planning to visit Stonehenge, do some reading and take the time to view the place in context - an amazing amount is still preserved. Visit Dunnington Walls and walk the river Avon and the ceremonial entranceway to the stones themselves (about a 3m walk, in all). The approach that way is as they were planned to be seen by the people that constructed them and is mind blowing. So much better than the depressing car park, visitor center and highway that you have to cross.
All one has to do to appreciate the amount of rocks that can and will be deposited by glaciers is drive the back roads of Southern New England during Winter and observe the stone walls built by farmers who had removed them from their fields.
And thats in an area that was agrarian for maybe 250-300 years, not thousands.
Glacial movement may or may not be what happened to bring the boulders to Stonehenge, but it can’t be ruled out as a reasonable possibility.
Thanks for that link, the pic, the info. The Avebury stones came from there:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockeridge#Landmarks
The glacier advocates claim that the absence of evidence — tools, rollers, ‘gouges’ — means the stones weren’t moved by humans. Since the large menhirs clearly were shaped, there must have been tools around to shape them, but by the same argument — absence of tools — the menhirs must have arrived by glaciers as well, and preshaped. The fact that the tools are not still laying around doesn’t mean that there were never any tools.
During his discussion of the bluestones from Wales, the advocate also states that the 45 ton stones left no marks on the way there — but that’s a straw man argument, as the bluestones only weigh around 4 tons each. And of course, if the bluestones were just random chunks of rock ripped out and moved by a glacier, why the similar size and shape? If there were a pile of them somewhere nearby, which there isn’t, one would expect a variety of shapes and sizes that were rejected, and possibly tailings from shaping those which were moved to the site on the plain and erected. They must have been shaped by tools, but noooooo! The tools are not around any longer.
:’)