Craig Rhosyfelin -- why Literature Wales is up the creek

In the "Land of Legends" web site published by Literature Wales for the Welsh Government, we have a lot of interesting information, attractively packaged.  The "site entries" are by and large reliable, and most of the inaccuracies are of a minor nature and are not worth bothering about.  But those entries are supposed to be factual, reporting on myths rather than making them.......

http://www.landoflegends.wales/theme/sacred-and-spiritual

As I have reported, the Craig Rhos-y-felin entry should probably not have been included at all, since there is no mythology attached to the site.  But for better or for worse, there it is, written by Bronwen Price of Literature Wales, who has an archaeology doctorate and who should therefore know what she is talking about.   It's a bit unclear whether there was any Cadw involvement in the choice of the site, but I suspect that the Pembs Coast National Park might be behind it, given its track record of trying to push it as the next great thing on the prehistoric heritage front.  Anyway, in almost every respect, this entry is at fault, portraying the assumptions and speculations of a few archaeologists as established fact.  A more balanced assessment of this site is here:

http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/416247/details/craig-rhosyfelin-pont-saeson-craig-rhos-y-felin-rhyolite-bluestone-outcrop

See also:

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/rhosyfelin-rigs-designation-is-confirmed.html

JOHN, B.S, ELIS-GRUFFYDD, D &  DOWNES, J (2015a). "Quaternary Events at Craig Rhosyfelin, Pembrokeshire." Quaternary Newsletter, October 2015. No 137, pp 16-32.

JOHN, B.S., ELIS-GRUFFYDD, D & DOWNES, J (2015b). Observations on the supposed ‘Neolithic Bluestone Quarry’ at Craig Rhosyfelin, Pembrokeshire. Archaeology in Wales 54, pp 139-148.

With regard to the “site description”, this is what I have pointed out to Cadw and to Lit Wales:

Some of the bluestones of Stonehenge were quarried here. There is no evidence to support this statement.  Some small fragments of foliated rhyolite found in the soil at Stonehenge appear to have come from the Rhosyfelin area — that’s the best that can be said.  They might have come from destroyed cutting or slicing tools.  The use of the word “quarried” is entirely inappropriate.

First used for a local monument in about 3400 BC, they were moved to Salisbury Plain 500 years later where they stood in various settings before the giant inverted ‘U-shaped’ stones joined them in 2500 BC.   There is no evidence for there ever being a “local monument” or photo-Stonehenge in the local area around 3400 BC or at any other date.  That is a piece of unsupported speculation from Mike Parker-Pearson. There is no evidence that the stones were moved to Salisbury Plain by human agency c 2900 BC or at any other time.  The smaller bluestones at Stonehenge were indeed moved about and used in various settings, but there is no proof that the sarsens were not used on the site until later. The expression “giant inverted U-shaped stones” is really rather strange — each of the trilithons consists of two uprights and a capstone.

This makes Stonehenge a truly Welsh site…..  This is nonsense.

…..something supported by the Boscombe Bowmen: seven individuals re-buried in a mass grave near Stonehenge around 2300 BC. All were  seemingly born and raised in south-west Wales, travelling to Wessex during their lifetime.  This is wild speculation — I know of no evidence linking the Boscombe Bowmen to SW Wales. According to all the published analytical data, they are just as likely to have come from elsewhere in South Wales, Devon, Cornwall, or the Lake District or any other area of ancient rocks.

This connection and journeys from the west are recalled in folk legend - Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1100-1155) retells the ancient belief that Merlin brought Stonehenge from Ireland.  The idea that Geoffrey of Monmouth was repeating some ancient “folk memory” has been around for a long time!  But we now know that he invented many of his stories with political and PR considerations in mind — and he was indeed in the business of promoting Wales and its heroes.  He was a fiction writer, and not an historian, and he invented the “ancient belief” himself.

The rock face retains the natural pillar formations which the stone-cutters exploited.  This is incorrect.  On the rock face there are many intersecting fractures, which explains why the most predominant shapes in the slope accumulations are slabs and blocks rather than elongated pillars.  There were no “stone-cutters” at Rhosyfelin, in spite of what Mike Parker-Pearson may tell you.  In the Neolithic there was no method which allowed the cutting of stone.

You can enjoy a picnic where they camped 5400 years ago.  This at least is partly true!  Radiocarbon dates show that there is a long history of intermittent occupation by hunting and gathering parties at Rhosyfelin, between the Mesolithic and the Middle Ages.  None of the dates coincides with a supposed "quarrying phase".  But this is indeed a very pleasant picnic site………. if you take care not to try and cross the ford when the river is running high or visit when the roads are icy!

I am still bemused as to why Literature Wales will not re-write this entry on the "Land of Legends” site to more accurately represent the scientific consensus. Stubborn mules and ostriches with heads in sand come to mind.  Neither Visit Wales nor Literature Wales should be in the business of inventing or promoting new myths based on dodgy science.

Replacing that fantasy-driven entry would only take a minute's work, and would at least demonstrate an acceptance of the fact that none of us gets everything right, all of the time.