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Monday 7 December 2015

Trumpets and drums, but nothing new


 UCL photo of the 2015 dig at Rhosyfelin

Here is the Guardian write-up, based on the UCL press release, published today:

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/07/stonehenge-first-erected-in-wales-secondhand-monument

Profoundly disappointing.  So the whole focus is on the extremely inconvenient radiocarbon dates pushing the archaeologists towards the only explanation they can think of -- namely that there was a proto-Stonehenge somewhere else, preferably within striking distance of Rhosyfelin, which was dismantled and shipped off to Wiltshire lock, stock and barrel, 500 years after it was created.  That's not anything new for readers of this blog, and indeed it's a very old idea, going all the way back to HH Thomas and his friends almost a century ago.

To quote from the article: 
Prof Kate Welham, of Bournemouth University, said the ruins of a dismantled monument were likely to lie between the two megalith quarries. “We’ve been conducting geophysical surveys, trial excavations and aerial photographic analysis throughout the area and we think we have the most likely spot. The results are very promising. We may find something big in 2016,” she said.

So now we will have the great proto-Stonehenge hunt, as predicted in earlier posts, which will guarantee a nice flow of funds and keep the archaeologists gainfully employed for another five years or more. 

4 comments:

Dave Maynard said...

You have to admit it's a good photo

BRIAN JOHN said...

Yes, it's a very nice photo.

TonyH said...

Last time I saw University of Bournemouth's Kate Welham she had very bright, dyed, red hair, for those of you out on Preseli in 2016......and she'll probably be wearing a sweat - shirt saying "I'm A Believer".

BRIAN JOHN said...

Wow! Sounds scary -- not sure it will be wise to venture out next year when the proto-Stonehenge teams are prowling around all over the landscape........