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Unless otherwise stated, this image is the copyright of the submitter. Contact them for permission to reproduce it. |  | | Description | Avebury snails; I don't recall having seen snails on standing stones before, so seeing this fellow (and some other companions) at Avebury, well, it seemed quite unusual. I'll keep looking at other sites from now! |
| Posted Comments: AngieLake
(2006-05-27) | Alfred Watkins' little 'Dodman' perhaps?? (Google 'Ley Hunter Dodman') | FESTUS
(2006-07-11) | Come down in the winter on a wet day and you will see snails all over the stones nothing unusual there`s no mystery about it they go onthe stones because they are there | pab
(2009-08-31) | A comment on ShropshireTraveller's snail on Avebury stone said they go on them 'because they are there'. Just managed my 1st ever visit to the wonderful site, and they are still at it. Photo and theory to follow... | pab
(2011-01-02) | This appeared on Random Image....it reminds me of my theory that many of the 'cup marks' on this form of stone are actually made by snails. For some reason, this never seems to generate any interest or comment! | Runemage
(2011-01-02) | I have a stone retaining wall at the front of my garden and odd bits of stone here and there. Whilst the stones attract snails, there's not one cupmark been formed in over 20 years. | Sunny100
(2011-01-02) | Its an interesting theory pab, a bit similar to fossilised little creatures in stones, leaving a hole where they were for instance. | pab
(2011-01-02) | Runemage & Sunny - when I posted my photo, I hoped some Portal members might have already come across the idea and explained/refuted it, but I don't think I saw any comments at the time. I assumed it would only happen on certain types of stone - this was the photo I posted: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=278
| Runemage
(2011-01-02) | I don't know of any serious research into methods of softening stone PAB, but this is interesting.
http://www.spirasolaris.ca/waterstone.html | pab
(2011-01-02) | It's official Runemage...snails eat circular depressions in limestone! I couldn't find the link to the article I cited in my earlier posting, but I have found another scholarly reference which states:
'Geologists in the early 19th century debated the origin of deep tubular holes bored into hard limestones in several European countries and decided that land snails, especially the 'grove snail' Cepaea nemoralis, were responsible. Recent research on the Mendip Hills in England confirms this view.' (extract from Snail holes in hard limestone by W I Stanton: http://www.ubss.org.uk/resources/proceedings/vol17/UBSS_Proc_17_3_218-226.pdf
| Sunny100
(2011-01-02) | Eureka pab, I thought there might be something in that theory. Well done. | cerrig
(2011-01-02) | Sarsen's are sandstone. Would this affect the theory? | pab
(2011-01-03) | cerrig - I don't know the constitution of the Avenue's stones well enough to know how many of them are sandstone & how many are limestone....but I gather that what the snails are actually after is chalk for use in their shells. Someone must know if they can get this from sandstone as well? And I wouldn't want to overstate this - I just wondered if some of the holes might be 'natural' rather than human-made. I still think they are amazing and 'wonder-ful' either way! | Runemage
(2011-01-03) | Fascinating pab, it says in the Abstract that the holes are bored at a maximum rate of 1.5mm in 10 years, that's a lot of snails!
| TheCaptain
(2011-01-03) | the stones have been there a very long time, and snails can be numerous. |
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