Broken blocks and slabs of spotted dolerite on the southern flank of the Carn Goedog tor. Sharp-edged fractures predominate, as you would expect in an area much affected by frost-shattering. The shapes of these stones are quite different from the shapes of the five "Carn Goedog bluestones" at Stonehenge.
Here is another post on the little matter of the Carn Goedog "bluestone megalith quarry" which is greatly loved by Parker Pearson, Rob Ixer, Richard Bevins and a whole host of others.
First: the latest article, which has reverberated round the world in a welter of gushing praise:
Megalith quarries for Stonehenge's bluestones
Mike Parker Pearson, Josh Pollard, Colin Richards, Kate Welham, Chris Casswell, Charles French, Duncan Schlee, Dave Shaw, Ellen Simmons, Adam Stanford, Richard Bevins and Rob Ixer.
Antiquity, Volume 93, Issue 367
February 2019 , pp. 45-62
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/megalith-quarries-for-stonehenges-bluestones/AAF715CC586231FFFCC18ACB871C9F5E
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/megalith-quarries-for-stonehenges-bluestones/AAF715CC586231FFFCC18ACB871C9F5E/core-reader
Do these people ever do any joined-up thinking? I have been undertaking some more fieldwork at Carn Goedog, followed by some simple desk research.
I asked myself a simple question: Could the Stonehenge spotted dolerite bluestones named in the article have been quarried at Carn Goedog during the Neolithic?
Quote: At least five bluestone pillars (Stones 33, 37, 49, 65 & 67) were taken from Carn Goedog, and probably many more (Bevins et al. 2013). The multiple and large recesses in the rock face are further evidence that pillar removal was extensive at this outcrop, even though quarrying in the early modern period has obscured evidence of pillar removal in the western part of the outcrop.
So let's check out those five "pillars" (only one is a pillar, and three might be called slabs, but let that pass for a moment) on Simon Banton's splendid web site.
http://www.stonesofstonehenge.org.uk/search/label/Stone%20067
33 -- well worn short and stumpy pillar. Rectangular section. Standing. Signs of some shaping? Spotted dolerite with whitish spots. A axis 1.68m above ground. Weight 0.51 tonnes above ground.
37 -- smallish well-rounded boulder, slightly slab-shaped and set on end. Standing. One of the strangest shapes of all the stones. Spotted dolerite with moderate spots. A axis 1.27m. Weight above ground 0.81 tonnes.
49 -- small irregular slab with quite sharp edges. Standing. Upright. Broken angled fracture at one end. Also a facet / missing chunk off one edge. Spotted dolerite with pinkish spots. A axis 1.90m, B 1.60m. C 1.80m. D1.63m.
65 — irregular elongated boulder with well-rounded edges. Recumbent. Some signs of facets? Typical glacial erratic. Axis A 0.28m. B 0.15m. Very small indeed.
67 — slightly tapering elongated pillar. Recumbent. Well rounded edges — signs of facets on the broadest end. The other end is embedded in the ground.) Axis A 0.41m. Weight 1.59 tonnes?
Now these five bluestones "taken from Carn Goedog" may indeed be made of the right sort of spotted dolerite and they might indeed have come from the Carn Goedog dolerite sill, but just look at their shapes and dimensions. Apart from number 33, as fine a mottley collection of battered slabs and boulders as you are ever likely to see. There is no way that these were extracted fresh (with the use of wedges and levers) from a Neolithic quarry at Carn Goedog -- they are so heavily weathered and abraded, with (for the most part) rounded or well-rounded edges and corners, and even with facets quite clearly seen in the photos, that they have to be glacial erratics. They have been lying around for very much more than 5,000 years. Forget about weights and dimensions for the moment (these are unreliable anyway) -- but there is nothing about them that suggests quarrying. If one examines the detached blocks in the "quarry" area examined by the Parker Pearson team at Carn Goedog, there are sharp corners and relatively unabraded surfaces -- quite unlike stones 33, 37, 49, 65 and 67 at Stonehenge.
February 2019 , pp. 45-62
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/megalith-quarries-for-stonehenges-bluestones/AAF715CC586231FFFCC18ACB871C9F5E
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/megalith-quarries-for-stonehenges-bluestones/AAF715CC586231FFFCC18ACB871C9F5E/core-reader
Do these people ever do any joined-up thinking? I have been undertaking some more fieldwork at Carn Goedog, followed by some simple desk research.
I asked myself a simple question: Could the Stonehenge spotted dolerite bluestones named in the article have been quarried at Carn Goedog during the Neolithic?
Quote: At least five bluestone pillars (Stones 33, 37, 49, 65 & 67) were taken from Carn Goedog, and probably many more (Bevins et al. 2013). The multiple and large recesses in the rock face are further evidence that pillar removal was extensive at this outcrop, even though quarrying in the early modern period has obscured evidence of pillar removal in the western part of the outcrop.
So let's check out those five "pillars" (only one is a pillar, and three might be called slabs, but let that pass for a moment) on Simon Banton's splendid web site.
http://www.stonesofstonehenge.org.uk/search/label/Stone%20067
33 -- well worn short and stumpy pillar. Rectangular section. Standing. Signs of some shaping? Spotted dolerite with whitish spots. A axis 1.68m above ground. Weight 0.51 tonnes above ground.
37 -- smallish well-rounded boulder, slightly slab-shaped and set on end. Standing. One of the strangest shapes of all the stones. Spotted dolerite with moderate spots. A axis 1.27m. Weight above ground 0.81 tonnes.
49 -- small irregular slab with quite sharp edges. Standing. Upright. Broken angled fracture at one end. Also a facet / missing chunk off one edge. Spotted dolerite with pinkish spots. A axis 1.90m, B 1.60m. C 1.80m. D1.63m.
65 — irregular elongated boulder with well-rounded edges. Recumbent. Some signs of facets? Typical glacial erratic. Axis A 0.28m. B 0.15m. Very small indeed.
67 — slightly tapering elongated pillar. Recumbent. Well rounded edges — signs of facets on the broadest end. The other end is embedded in the ground.) Axis A 0.41m. Weight 1.59 tonnes?
Now these five bluestones "taken from Carn Goedog" may indeed be made of the right sort of spotted dolerite and they might indeed have come from the Carn Goedog dolerite sill, but just look at their shapes and dimensions. Apart from number 33, as fine a mottley collection of battered slabs and boulders as you are ever likely to see. There is no way that these were extracted fresh (with the use of wedges and levers) from a Neolithic quarry at Carn Goedog -- they are so heavily weathered and abraded, with (for the most part) rounded or well-rounded edges and corners, and even with facets quite clearly seen in the photos, that they have to be glacial erratics. They have been lying around for very much more than 5,000 years. Forget about weights and dimensions for the moment (these are unreliable anyway) -- but there is nothing about them that suggests quarrying. If one examines the detached blocks in the "quarry" area examined by the Parker Pearson team at Carn Goedog, there are sharp corners and relatively unabraded surfaces -- quite unlike stones 33, 37, 49, 65 and 67 at Stonehenge.
Why was this fundamental problem not pointed out to Parker Pearson by the two geologists involved in this work? Or maybe it was, and they all thought they could get away with yet another con trick.......
I rest my case. Another nail in the quarry hunters' coffin.
Geology references:
"Geochemistry, Sources and Transport of the Stonehenge Bluestones", O. Williams-Thorpe & R. S. Thorpe (Proceedings of the British Academy, 77, pp 133-161, 1991)
BEVINS, R.E., R.A. IXER & N.G. PEARCE. 2013. Carn Goedog is the likely major source of Stonehenge doleritic bluestones: evidence based on compatible element geochemistry and principal components analysis. Journal of Archaeological Science 42: 179–93.
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