Just seen the latest Times article by Times Archaeology correspondent Norman Hammond. He says: "The notion that the bluestones were brought from Wales to Wiltshire by glaciers during the Ice Age is now discounted." Hum hum. By whom, I wonder? Maybe by Mr Hammond and his "contacts" in the archaeology establishment. He thinks that the new geology reported by Rob Ixer and Richard Bevins supports the idea of sea transport of the stones via Newport!! Oh dear oh dear -- talk about looking at the end of your nose without seeing it.....
So the archaeology bods will now be searching high and low for twenty or thirty bluestone quarries, and a nice stone exporting harbour somewhere in the Nevern Estuary?
12 comments:
If memory serves me well (which it well may not!), our Norman may have acquired this notion from one of the reactions to the Ixer/Bevins recent report on geology, which, Brian, you quoted on your blog at the time. I recall you were surprised at remarks attributed in the press to MPP, implying sea transport via Newport was now perhaps what occurred. Now I know academics have a reputation for............................. being............................. cautious................(fill in the dots).It is quite interesting to Google Norman.
As regards my last comment, your blog item "More Media Hype" of the 23rd February is what I remembered. You quoted the Western Mail article of the same date, and expressed surprise at remarks attributed there to MPP.
...... and if you geologists ever find some erratic material from the Isle of Man or Anglesey (not beyond the bounds of possibility) they will probably have their Neolithic argonauts sailing all over the Irish Sea as well! They are quite incorrigible.
Perhaps Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian explorer & adventurer, has a lot to answer for! I understand some of our intrepid British modern-day archaeologists have recently been noticed on Easter Island, for example.
Will they use the music of "The Impossible Dream" as background to the learned professional Professors who profess to tell us EVER SO earnestly the TRUTH about the role the Cardigan Bay dolphins played in providing safe passage and haven to those indomitable bluestone blue-beards who ever - so - carefully steered the Stonehenge stones safely south then south-west......... (I could go on, they will).....to-you-know-where.
Maybe we should run a sweepstake on which fairy tale we will get next? Whatever piece of scientific evidence comes to hand, the response seems to be to develop an ever more complex fairy tale in order to fit the story to the evidence. Dolphins leading the stone-carrying craft round the stormy waters of St David's Head? Yes -- I like it!
Of course, in March each year these days, Intrepid Adventurers from across the Irish Sea alight at Fishguard on only the first stage of their long, long journey Westwards to THEIR Holy Land deep inside Gloucestershire, at Cheltenham. Truly remarkable, what plucky chaps.
You mean eastwards? Yes, indeed this annual migration is a truly remarkable phenomenon which probably dates back to the Bronze Age, if not earlier, when traders from across St George's Channel landed at Newport and set off towards the east, in search of gold and other sources of untold wealth. I think we should instigate a serious search for the remains of the horses that fell (and there must be many of them) during the early horse races that occurred along the Cursus. There are several obstacles there that look much more severe than Breechers Brook.....
Now today, March 17th, even the BBC website has joined in the general theme of Fantastic,Fabulous Science. "At the end of National Science and Engineering week, a survey from Birmingham Science City suggests it is NOT always easy to tell fantastic science from things that are just fantasy." There's a Quiz we can all join in. If you get 6 to 8 questions right, apparently you are of Professorial level.Hmm. One question asks "Is it possible to teleport things as shown on Star Trek?" Perhaps our Ancestors could teach us a trick or two.
Maybe they have hired Merlin the Wizard as a scientific consultant? He knows all about moving large stones from here to there... (By the way, both he and I were born in Carmarthen. I was born in the old hospital, but a stone's throw from Merlin's Oak.)
You joke but I believe there is a Mills and Boon belief that the red bracer from the Amesbury archer was collected from Caerfai Bay by the eponymous Archer after going to Ireland and getting Wicklow gold. He saw the red rocks from afar and lusted for them.
It does not get more stupid than that. Watch (with mother?) this space.
GCU In two minds
Those plucky 21st-Century Celts will soon be returning home with their gold from Cheltenham, having greatly enriched the economy of the Cheltenham Community while they were there, and they'll be boarding their specially-built Cork boats before completing their ritual annual journey to the Emerald Isle. Of course, it is stating the obvious that this is a very ancient ceremonial rite! Quite humbling, really.
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