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Some of the ideas discussed in this blog are published in my new book called "The Stonehenge Bluestones" -- available by post and through good bookshops everywhere. Bad bookshops might not have it....
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Monday 6 September 2021

Waun Mawn revisited

The truth?  So there we are then....... all sorted.


As we all know, Waun Mawn is being revisited as we speak -- MPP and his depleted team of diggers are hard at work up there on the sunny moorland, working hard to enhance the highly entertaining "lost circle" fantasy which has come into being over the past three or four years.  It's a delightful story, suitable for all ages.

Our hero plans to describe the latest discoveries at an evening at the Bluestone Brewery on 14th September, but here is a summary of what we know so far:

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2021/02/antiquity-article-on-lost-circle-review.html

There have been TV programmes and assorted other articles about Waun Mawn in glossy popular magazines, but that's all froth, designed to promote the idea of the "lost circle" without having to present any serious evidence.  The "Antiquity" article is all that matters -- it is supposed to be the definitive peer-reviewed research report, and it is truly appalling.  

I have attempted to record the evidence from Waun Mawn in a rather more measured fashion in this article which has been very heavily consulted:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/345177590_Waun_Mawn_and_the_search_for_Proto-_Stonehenge

Interestingly enough, although I invite comments, nobody has pulled me up on any inaccuracies or misrepresentations.  With over 3,300 reads so far, this article shows due respect to the scientific method, but it also plays an important role in flagging up the fact that over 3,300 people are aware that there is a rather vigorous dispute going on -- something which MPP and his learned colleagues appear to be blissfully ignorant about.  Strange, that.

7 comments:

Tony Hinchliffe said...

After Big Mike has imbibed a few there, no doubt he'll be giving a bleary ( hiccup) thanks to to the ........ Brewstone Bleary for their ( hiccup) hopspitalitee.....and expect a few exaggerations in his speech.

CysgodyCastell said...

Given that he is giving a talk in your backyard, would it be unprofessional of you to atttend his talk and ask a question or three?

I have been to a couple of his talks before at Castell Henllys, I dont think i could stomach another one. The audience tends to be too sycophantic.

BRIAN JOHN said...

I have exactly the same feeling, having been to several of the MPP talks in the past. All fantasy, no evidence. I'm surprised the event is going ahead at the brewery. They will probably have a packed house, and sell lots of beer, but there is too much Covid for comfort in this area right now, and I think I'll stay well clear of the crush..... No idea whether they will insist on face masks and social distancing.....

Tony Hinchliffe said...

Incidentally, when Pearson is doing his thing in Wiltshire he likes to say that the Devizes - based beer, Wadworth's, is what he enjoys....

Tony Hinchliffe said...

...and yes, Pearson's audiences, be they at a live event or via social media, are far too sycophantic. I ain't!

Dave Maynard said...

Wadworth's is great, do they use the same brewery in town?

BRIAN JOHN said...

This is the essence of the MPP hypothesis, articulated in 2015 and on many other occasions:

https://theconversation.com/stonehenge-isnt-the-only-prehistoric-monument-thats-been-moved-but-its-still-unique-51962

"But we think it is far more likely that the bluestones were derived from quarries in close proximity to each other – within 2km to 3km – and brought together to build a local monument in Pembrokeshire. Scientific analysis of strontium isotopes in the teeth of people buried in the Stonehenge area reveals that many of them have values consistent with growing up in western Britain. So the stones may have been brought by people migrating from Wales, bringing their ancestral monument as a symbol of their history and identity. Strontium isotope analysis is currently being carried out on the people actually buried at Stonehenge when the bluestones were erected, and we await the results to see if they show a similar picture.

It’s also possible that the bluestones were put up somewhere on Salisbury Plain before they arrived at Stonehenge. For example, one of the bluestones never quite made it to Stonehenge and was dug out in 1801 from the top layer of a Neolithic burial mound called Boles Barrow, near Warminster, also in Wiltshire.

Although this tomb was first built around 3700BC, it seems to have gone through modifications, of which adding a layer of large stones (mostly local sarsen stones and this one bluestone) happened at the end of its use. So we don’t know precisely when it got there but it may have been set up as a burial marker before the rest of the bluestones were erected at Stonehenge.

Rebuilding tombs and other megalithic structures as second-hand monuments is only now turning out to be recognised in various parts of western Europe as archaeologists start to look more closely at the detailed aspects of construction. Simple expediency of finding suitable stone does not explain sites such as Stonehenge and the Table des Marchand – they were most likely incorporating aspects of the past which had rich historical resonance for them."

A bit of a tangle over the Boles Barrow bluestone, but that's not unusual.........