More about "quarries" and "sacred springs"

One of the "springheads" -- is this supposed to be a "construction"? If so, can we please have some evidence?

Our old friends Profs Darvill and Wainwright have just produced another Report on their "Spaces" project in Pembs -- in "Archaeology in Wales" -- and as one might expect it is full of assumptions about quarries and sacred springs. Typical quotes:
"In 2007 five further springheads were recorded on the west and north side of Carn Meini. Most are of similar construction to those previously recorded with a crude wall screening off the springhead, thus creating a basin from which the streams run downslope."

"Similar construction"??? They see constructions where others see natural features.

"An incline was recorded on the north-west corner of Carn Meini below the western crag associated with two abandoned pillar stones and a pile of quarry debris. Stone-filled pits may represent extraction holes later filled with debris from dressing the stones".

Inclines, stone-filled pits and debris from dressing stones? Oh dear oh dear. I venture to suggest that there is not a scrap of evidence for any of this. We are on a slope, which tends to have inclines on it. What I see when I look everywhere in this area is a periglacial landscape, with frost-shattered surfaces, some of which are ice-smoothed by overriding ice, and broken slabs and scree all over the place. I don't deny that there might have been some stone removal at some stages (including within living memory) but why anybody should think this has anything at all to do with Stonehenge is a mystery to me........