I went over to Rhosyfelin yesterday with a couple of people who wanted to look at the site, and was intrigued to see how vegetation growth has reclaimed much of the site which was cleared by the archaeologists in 2011-2015. It's now 4 years since they left on completion of their extended dig, and the upper part of the excavated area has been overtaken by brambles and bracken. In the lower part of the site, in the vicinity of the rockfall rubble and the big "picnic table" stone, vegetation growth is also making it difficult to see the details described by the MPP team and by Dyfed Elis-Gruffydd, John Downes and myself. On the rock face, the upper limit of the pre-existing slope debris is now quite difficult to see because of lichen growth, moss and other plants......
So the evidence is disappearing. Thank goodness that John, Dyfed and myself got in there when we did, and described the deposits exposed in the dig. If we had not done that, nobody would have known what the sedimentary sequence is, and the only record of the site would have been that of the MPP team, which completely ignored the presence of periglacial, glacial and fluvioglacial deposits and which interpreted a wide range of natural features as "engineering features."
As I have said before, one of the weird (and potentially fatal) flaws in archaeological research is the fact that digs are filled in when research is complete, preventing scrutiny and allowing all sorts of cockeyed interpretations to gain traction. If you, as an independent researcher, cannot check, you cannot contradict. That is a situation which breeds slapdash interpretations and arrogance on the part of the excavators -- as the Rhosyfelin quarrying saga illustrates perfectly. Extravagant narratives can be developed ad infinitum, and with nothing to hold them in check they simply become increasingly elaborate over time, and ever more bizarre.
In my own discipline, geomorphology, it is a blessing that most of the exposures described by field workers, and then interpreted and written up, remain accessible for others to examine. If you misinterpret or fail to describe things accurately, you will sure as eggs get your come-uppance rather rapidly. That ensures care and caution -- which is as it should be. It also ensures good science.
One positive thing is that the fractured rock-face, the foliated rhyolites and the so-called "monolith extraction point" are still easy to examine, and it does not take very long for even the most inexperienced of observers to realise that the claim of bluestone provenancing to "within a few square metres" is completely absurd, and that the "extraction point" is a wild fantasy.
Another good thing is that the return of thick vegetation shows just how effective biological processes are on the tip of the ridge and on the upper part of the rock face. Rocking trees and bushes and expanding roots are at work again, already adding to the bank of rockfall debris and scree -- as predicted by Dyfed, John and myself. No human agency required.
Anyway, let nature take its course. And as I have said many times before, charlatans will be exposed, and truth will out.........
A photo from Casey Cilshafe (posted on Facebook) showing just how much vegetation has sprung up in the area that was excavated......
looks beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYou say "charlatans will be exposed, and truth will out....." What is the current situation regarding Craig Rhosyfelin's future environmental status? You ensured it has special geological status on record now, didn't you?
ReplyDeleteIs the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park still seeking to exploit this site's recently acquired celebrity status/notoriety to promote it to Mr and Mrs Joe Public? Naive tourist visitors need special protection from the fast buck merchants, surely?
Your 2018 Stonehenge Bluestones book is useful, but not everyone has the inclination or attention span to read a book these days, when instant gratification rules, and noisy Boris and Trump - like figures shake the land everywhere.
Apart from its RIGS status, perhaps it also deserves to be also called a Folly to Hubris.
Yes, the RIGS designation is safe, and on the record. Mind you, the National Park has been very slow in its cataloguing and registration process -- so not many people know about it. There is no doubt that the late Phil Bennett was keen to get the site registered as an Ancient Monument -- but I argued with Cadw and the Royal Commission that there was quite inadequate evidence and documentary citation for that to happen. The NPA wanted the site to become one of its "flagship" archaeological features, showing that Pembs has a heritage second to none! Display panels, parking areas, etc were all in the frame. But now things have gone very quiet on that front. I suspect nothing more will happen........
ReplyDeleteI certainly do TRUST nothing will happen, as you suspect in your last sentence!
ReplyDeleteWell, I suspect that whatever happens next year at Waun Mawn (if they get the funding) will have something to do with it. The MPP gang seem intent at the moment in developing their extraordinary narrative even further -- and the new books which MPP is promising will surely be marketed as "the definitive story" as "proved" in those digging seasons. I wonder if those books will be peer reviewed and the evidence scrutinised? I doubt it very much.
ReplyDelete