Fresh rock faces exposed after rockfalls in the upper part of the Rhosyfelin exposure.
The geological signature of the foliated rhyolites here will vary considerably from
left to right of the photo -- which explains why there have been no perfect matches
between Rhosyfelin samples and Stonehenge debitage samples. As far as I know, there has been no systematic sampling and analysis of samples from the many layers exposed.
Just in case anybody should say that it's terribly unsporting of me to criticise articles published in "Antiquity" without ever going into print myself in a learned journal, here is my reply. This was submitted to "Antiquity" and rejected on the grounds that the key information contained had already been published elsewhere. Yes, some of it had, but constant repetition in print of the same data is something we see all the time in the articles by MPP and his team -- so it's clearly OK to repeat orthodoxy but not unorthodoxy.
Anyway, there are many new points in this article -- you can read it on Researchgate or get it from me as a PDF, if you like. Dear reader, you can decide for yourself whether it should have been published in the journal that takes an especially high profile in promoting the fantastical narrative of a certain research team!
Natural rockfall debris accumulated at the foot of the Rhosyfelin crag -- interpreted
by MPP and his team as "quarrying debris."
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307551709_Craig_Rhos-y-felin_is_NOT_shown_to_be_a_Welsh_bluestone_megalith_quarry_for_StonehengeCraig Rhos-y-felin is NOT shown to be a Welsh bluestone megalith quarry for Stonehenge
Brian John
ABSTRACT
The claim by Parker Pearson et al (2015) to have discovered a megalithic bluestone quarry at Craig Rhos-y-felin in Pembrokeshire is disputed. So is the claim that details of the quarrying process have been discovered. In the view of the author and his research colleagues Downes and Elis-Gruffydd, the claimed engineering features attributed to Neolithic / Bronze Age quarrymen are simply natural features typical of rock faces affected by glacial, fluvioglacial and periglacial processes over a long period of time. No antler picks, hammerstones, bones, flakes, axes or other artifacts which might confirm Neolithic quarrying activity have been discovered at this site. Some of the disputed features appear to have been unconsciously fashioned by the archaeological dig team over five seasons of fieldwork through the selective removal of sediments. There is no direct dating for the extraction of bluestone monoliths; in contrast, it is suggested that the abundant radiocarbon and other dates from the sites have nothing to do with quarrying, but indicate instead a long history of intermittent occupation by hunting and gathering groups.
Greencroft Working Paper No 2, August 2016 Submitted: 4th June 2016. Revised 27th August 2016, after peer review
(12) (PDF) Craig Rhos-y-felin is NOT shown to be a Welsh bluestone megalith quarry for Stonehenge.
3 comments:
The problem is one mainly(I maintain) of potentially misleading semantics.
Rhosyfelin ought not (in my humble opinion) to be described as a bluestone "quarry" - implying as it does that evidence must be sought for and found for signs of involved and/or specialized quarrying techniques.
Rhosyfelin ought to be described merely as an exposed "rocky spur. It arguably delivered Stone Age monoliths with the minimum of effort needed to detach and cart away its offerings- scarcely any "quarrying" worth speaking of - merely dislodgement (gravity-assisted!).
Colin Berry (aka sciencebod)
too many mistakes -- start again....
Yes, it is an exposed rocky spur. There is no sign that it ever "delivered" rhyolite monoliths to anybody. First, why even try to extract monoliths from such a difficult and heavily wooded place, when there were plenty of suitably shaped erratics lying about all over the landscape? Second, there is no sign that the foliated rhyolite had any value anyway. There are no foliated rhyolite standing stones at Stonehenge, and this rock was never used preferentially in any of the local megalithic structures anyway. This whole Rhosyfelin thing is a wild goose chase......
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