Today I have been up on the mountain, and am more and more convinced that there is something important waiting to be discovered in the area to the north of Tafarn y Bwlch -- around grid ref SN 083345. This is where MPP and his colleagues will be digging next September, looking for proto-Stonehenge and a giant stone circle. But I think those matters are of minor significance compared with the other things waiting to be explored on the common. And the obsession with Stonehenge is unfortunate to say the least, given that the prehistoric features in this area are quite important enough in their own right as the local archaeologists seek to work out what was going on in the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.
Forgive the purple prose (it's catching!) but I think there is a veritable treasure trove up there.
I have made a number of posts before. For the record, they are here:
https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/waun-mawn-and-curse-of-stonehenge.html
https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/waun-mawn-and-that-awkward-slope.html
Having "looked at the "awkward slope" again today, I've changed my mind and now think that the slope is not a great problem. If there was a ring of stones there on the outer edge of the "platform" to the south of the hill summit, I think all the stones would have been intervisible if the circle had a diameter of maybe 100m or 110m. If it had a diameter of 140m, as has been suggested by some, I think the lowest stones on the slope would not have been visible from the highest ones, and so it would not have made any sense. Also, if there really was a big circle here, why were the four known stones (one standing and three recumbent) not set further to the north, where there is plenty of room, thereby allowing a whole circle to be placed on a flatter area rather than a sloping one? Lots of questions...... some of which might be answered when the diggers return in September.
https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/tafarn-y-bwlch-stone-complex-waun-mawn.html
https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/deer-hunting-on-waun-mawn.html
https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/feeding-stonehenge-from-preseli.html
https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/another-hypothesis-bites-dust.html
https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/dismantled-stone-circle.html
https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/gernos-fach-ring-cairn.html
https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/prophecy-fulfilled.html
https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/breaking-news-researchers-stumble.html
https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/new-work-at-waun-mawn.html
https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/new-work-at-waun-mawn.html
https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/dismantled-stone-circle.html
And there is a lot now on the record relating to the nearby features on Banc Llwydlos:
This is the key report which gives the regional context:
www.dyfedarchaeology.org.uk/projects/schedulepembroke2011.pdf
There is so much material from this site, following my investigations today, that I'll put it into three further posts, on the quarries, on standing and recumbent stones, and on other created features.
5 comments:
It will be interesting to see what turns up at the next dig. A number of circles were built on hillsides but often an artificial platform was created, cutting into the slope and creating a level area. Where circles are built on slopes the slopes tend to be very gentle and not as marked as you are suggesting here.
Thanks SU -- no trace of any platform building here. What intrigues me is that if our ancestors wanted to build a circle here, why didn't they set the northern stones further to the north, where there is plenty of room on the flattish bench in the hillside? This would have avoided the need to "spill over" onto the area where the slope increases. I think there may have been standing stones all over the place to the west of the hill summit -- another post coming.
Just come across a Paper by MPP on Waun Maun:-
RUST FAMILY FOUNDATION: ARCHAEOLOGY GRANTS PROGRAM The Welsh Origins of Stonehenge
[RFF - 2017 - 23] Principal Investigator: MPP
Its website is:-
www.rfamfound1.org/proj23find.html
Thanks Tony -- good detective work. This looks interesting, but I have a sinking feeling on a quick look through. We see the old familiar pattern. Narrative first, evidence later, carefully managed.........
See also:-
rfamfound1.org/archproj.html
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