Make no mistake, dear friends -- Phil's discovery of that large erratic on the foreshore near Mumbles is of massive significance. No matter what those involved in Stonehenge bluestone research may say, they cannot ignore the fact that for the last decade, Mike Parker Pearson's stock response to questions about the glacial transport of the bluestones has been: "Forget it. That idea is dead in the water. Let's move on. Next question?" At two of his evening lectures I asked this question and received the same arrogant and complacent response -- and others have had the same experience. With somebody whose mind is as closed as that, there is no great point in even trying to maintain a dialogue -- so for the last few years I have just stayed away from his annual lectures at the Bluestone Brewery, even though it's just a few hundred metres up the road.
All I can assume is that many years ago somebody from a geomorphology or geology background told MPP that "glacial transport of large monoliths from West Wales to Salisbury Plain was impossible" -- and he chose to believe him, regardless of the fact that other experts were saying quite the opposite.
Another issue at public lectures is that people just do not want to hear new evidence presented in the course of "question and answer sessions", or even involve themselves in serious scrutiny or challenge to the points or claims being made by the speaker. Most of those who attend are fully signed up bluestone cult members, who want to see some nice pictures, hear about the latest exciting discoveries, and want to have their sincerely held beliefs about the Stonehenge bluestones confirmed, by an ebullient and apparently authoritative senior academic. There are others who turn up and listen, and who feel distinctly uncomfortable when fanciful hypotheses and strong opinions are used as cover for a distinct shortage of hard evidence. They don't want to make a scene either, so they mostly keep quiet. I fully understand that. We Brits are SO polite!
Anyway, after this latest discovery, if I ever hear Parker Pearson say again that the glacial transport hypothesis is "dead in the water", I might start to get just a little upset with him..........
Some local coverage:
5 comments:
Given, as you say, the massive significance of this find can we reasonably expect some form of designation for the site? Not my area, but I would have thought it should qualify for RIGS status, if not SSSI. The erratic and the site would need a formal description, of course, so I hope you or your earth science colleagues have that in hand, Brian.
Yes, discussions are under way -- and the wider site is already designated as a RIGS, because of the importance of features in the limestone bedrock! So we can put in a request for the expansion of the citation.
Great stuff! So, whilst people like us seek to secure an expansion of this area's RIGS status, we'll leave the immature who read the Daily Express to speculate about the glacial erratic being just the shipwrecked cargo of a mysterious Neolithic vessel. The likes of Tim Daw are doing just that....On another matter, have you been in contact with the Welsh media as yet, or are you holding fire on that? What about Mike Pitts?
Yes, the local media are picking up on the story -- but my press release distribution is a bit shambolic, and I have no idea whether it has reached the news editors in "the respectable press" or even in TV newsrooms. I don't have the resources or the skills of the average university press office! But I am sure the coverage will increase as the weeks pass. Once the analyses are done and there is a peer-reviewed journal publication, we will have a much bigger story with added respectability! Also I have to respect Phil's wishes -- he is a professional photographer, and his photos in the press release are distributed only through Alamy -- so there are fees involved for those who wish to reproduce them. Since the site is still secret, press photographers can't go and take their own photos either! That's OK -- we can live with all of that.
There are some wonderful comments already popping up on social media about bluestone cargoes and Neolithic shipwrecks. Our old friend Tim apparently thinks it is his duty to promote this wondrous idea. Well, it's a free world. I even saw the comment somewhere that the boulder has obviously been pre-prepared at the Pembrokeshire end for final dressing on arrival at Stonehenge. Be prepared for even more detailed revelations from those faith in the Gospel according to Mike Pitts knows no bounds..... (as you will be aware, MPP has decided the bluestones did not go by sea. Mike Pitts is the sea transport man, if that is what you want to believe.)
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