Wainwright finds "the architect of stonehenge"??

If you thought you'd seen and heard it all, folks, think again.  This is obviously the start of something big!  Read on......

   
Stonehenge Architect Linked With Welsh Burial Cairn?

stonehengenews | September 8, 2011
URL: http://wp.me/pQAXF-i0

An impressive tomb discovered in Wales is believed to belong to an important figure involved with the construction of Stonehenge.  (It's not an impressive tomb at all -- it's really rather insignificant as these things go.  And it hasn't been "discovered" either.  It's been known for many years, and is already in all the text books.....  And why is this tomb supposed to be associated with "an important figure" when no comment at all has been passed on the importance -- or otherwise -- of those buried in all the much more impressive Neolithic burial sites in West Wales?)

watch?v=TOPH21xGq7g

The burial chamber is located in the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and sits on top of a ceremonial monument.  (That remains to be demonstrated.  The evidence presented thus far doesn't seem to suggest a "ceremonial monument" at all.  All it suggests is that there might have been an earlier phase in the use of the site.)

Nearby, a pair of standing stones embedded in a bank bear a strong resemblance to the pair-arrangement of the stones at Stonehenge, the famous prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, southern England.  (Absolute rubbish.  Which stones?  I think they may be entirely natural.  There are pairs of standing stones all over the place.  Why are these two stones supposed to me more similar to the Stonehenge "pairs" than all the others?)

Stonehenge features earthworks encompassing a circular arrangement of large standing stones. These are mainly two types of rock—the large sarsen stones (a type of sandstone), and a variety of smaller igneous rocks called bluestones (natural columns of while-spotted dolerite).  (Two types of rock?  Why do these two professors seem to be in total denial about all the other types of rock found at Stonehenge?  I think we know why....)

The excavation of the tomb in the Carn Menyn region of west Wales was led by Tim Darvill from Bournemouth University, and Geoffrey Wainwright from the Society of Antiquaries.  (Assume that, for a change, this is a reasonably accurate statement.)

The archeologists believe the 80 bluestones at Stonehenge originated from the same area as the tomb and were transported around 160 miles (nearly 260 kilometers) to the Wiltshire plains about 4,500 years ago (around 2,300BC).  (Still banging on about the 80 bluestones, when we all know that there are no more than 43 "bluestones" at Stonehenge, of a number of different types, and that there is no evidence that there ever were any more on the site.)

Uncovering the reason for this epic journey will unlock the mystery behind Stonehenge’s existence.  (So plenty of time yet for a nice lucrative string of TV spectaculars....)

Darvill and Wainwright first suggested in 2008 that Stonehenge may have been built as a major healing center, rather like a prehistoric version of Lourdes or Santiago de Compostela. They think the bluestones, not the sarsen, were believed to convey healing powers. (Again, not a scrap of evidence to support that contention.)

The Preseli area has many springs linked with ritual healing in prehistory, and this could explain why the bluestones were quarried for Stonehenge, despite being so far away.  (That is sheer nonsense.  There are "healing springs" in Pembrokeshire with long traditions associated with them, but none of them is in this area.)

“We went back to the Preselis and started doing excavations up there," says Wainwright, according to The Guardian. "The first site we explored was a big burial cairn in the shadow of Carn Menyn, where the Stonehenge bluestones come from."  (What he means is "a small burial cairn" and what he means is "where some of the bluestones might have come from.")

The excavation team discovered a stone circle underneath the cairn, built of bluestone, and organic material is being carbon dated.  (How they have determined, from a very small dig, that there is a stone circle under the burial cairn, is a mystery to me.  On the basis of a stone hole or two?  Shades of Bluestonehenge.  Built of bluestone?  Well it would be, wouldn't it, since the bedrock is bluestone....)

“Then this stone circle was covered with the huge burial cairn with a chamber in the middle," Wainright added. "The space turned from a public ceremonial space defined by the stone circle into the burial spot of a very important person."  (Kindly stop using these superlatives, Geoffrey.   It is not huge at all.  And they all had chambers in the middle.  This is wild speculation at best, and deception at worst.)

“We have obviously got a very important person who may have been responsible for the impetus for these stones to be transported," Wainwright BBC News.  (It's not obvious at all -- GW is a victim of his own hubris.)

"It can be compared directly with the first Stonehenge, so for the first time we have a direct link between Carn Menyn—where the bluestones came from—and Stonehenge, in the form of this ceremonial monument."  (That is all absolute nonsense.  What on earth is the link with the first Stonehenge?  The fact that there might be a circle of some sort here, or an embankment or ditch?  But there are circles and henges all over the place.  What does that prove?  Nothing at all.)
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This all becomes increasingly hilarious.  A pity about the science......  who wrote this stuff anyway?  Should we blame lousy journalism, or should be blame the TV utterances and press releases put out by certain eminent professors?  When is the Society of Antiquities going to start to insist on some professional standards in the work which it supports?

PS.  Hubris  means extreme haughtiness, pride or arrogance. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power.