I'm specifically thinking of what early readers/hearers of the Bible might have pictured when hearing stories of the stoning of Stephen, the stoning of the woman caught in adultery, and stonings from the Old Testament. What was the method through which people were forced to stay in one place? Were there ever people who refused to take part in stonings?
The oldest specific instructions for stoning people in a Jewish context is Mishnah Sanhedrin, chapter 6 (2nd century). The person being stoned is pushed off a two-story platform of some sort by the first witness to whatever crime they're being executed for. If this kills them, then the procedure ends. If not, the condemned person is turned front side up, and the second witness to the crime they're being executed for drops a large rock them. If that doesn't kill them, then assembled people pelt the person with rocks. Presumably the injuries from the first two steps would keep the person in place.
However, this was all recorded after Jewish courts stopped executing people, and even when they were it seems it wasn't terribly common. So it's not entirely clear.