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Tuesday 10 November 2015

New Rhosyfelin paper: ice-cold water on the Neolithic Quarry theory



A new article by Dyfed Elis-Gruffydd, John Downes and myself, entitled "Quaternary Events at Craig Rhosyfelin, Pembrokeshire" is now published.  Here is the Abstract:

The Afon Brynberian valley is claimed to contain Britain’s most important Neolithic quarry, used for the extraction of bluestone orthostats destined for Stonehenge. Archaeologists argue that an exposed rock face within a meltwater channel at Craig Rhosyfelin is a quarried surface, and that an eight-tonne block found five metres away was prepared for transport but then abandoned. Site investigations have revealed scoured surfaces, faceted and abraded erratic boulders, glacial till, fluvioglacial sands and gravels, and widespread rockfall and solifluction deposits. All the features associated with the “proto-orthostat” are considered to be natural. There are currently no visible prehistoric landforms or sediments that are demonstrably anthropogenic in origin.

 The rock face at Craig Rhosyfelin -- simply a work of nature

Source:  Quaternary Newsletter No 137 (October 2015).   Articles in this journal are not published online, and so the new paper is reproduced -- with different format -- on the Scribd web site.  Unfortunately the illustrations are not high definition, because of constraints imposed by the server.  However, nearly all of them have previously been published on this blog.

Link:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/289210389/Quaternary-Events-at-Craig-Rhosyfelin-Pembrokeshire

A facsimile version will shortly be published on Researchgate.

3 comments:

Geo Cur said...



Could this be start of other Jerome K Jerome inspired interdisciplinary mash ups ?
“An archaeological assessment of a Hutton unconformity “, “ Three volcanologists and the “Mary Rose “ etc .

BRIAN JOHN said...

Ah -- that would be fun. Then we can get onto reinterpreting volcanoes as gigantic blisters on the backside of the Earth Goddess. Myris --- please advise.

ND Wiseman said...

"Hundreds of volcanic cysts burst suddenly through the surface like suppurating boils upon Mother’s face, spewing forth measureless gouts of blazing magma from deep within her bowels.
" ... Elsewhere, continents drifted, mountains rose and fell and strange stars wheeled ceaselessly overhead while the subterranean ocean of Mother’s elastic molten heart slipped past, pulsing and pumping her fevered blood in a different place at a different time, to a different purpose."

Excerpt © 2009 ND Wiseman
"Tales of the Forest Rangers"