The Cerrig Lladron Myth

I was reminded the other day of another of the myths -- and there have been many -- pushed out by Bevins, Ixer et al over the last few years as part of the Waun Mawn Saga.  It's in this article, and of course it was also pushed in the accompanying press release.  

Bevins, R.E., Pearce, N.J.G., Parker Pearson, M., Ixer, R.A., 2022. Identification of the source of dolerites used at the Waun Mawn stone circle in the Mynydd Preseli, west Wales and implications for the proposed link with Stonehenge. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 45 (2022) 103556.

• DOI: 
• 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103556

The promoted story is that this is a classic piece of "good science" in which learned experts correct their own mistakes.  Having claimed earlier on that Waun Mawn had something to do with Stonehenge and with the rock types represented in the "bluestone assemblage",  they say that they have now done some more brilliant research and have discovered that the four lumps of rock that can be seen at Waun Mawn actually came from Cerrig Lladron, not far away from the mythical stone setting.  That's the spin........

It's a load of tosh. They have not discovered anything of the sort, as I have pointed out in previous posts.

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

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/search?q=+Cerrig+Lladron

https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-unhealthy-obsession-with-bluestone.html

I told them as soon as they started work at Waun Mawn that the one standing stone and three recumbent stones at the site of the putative "giant stone circle" were strictly local, having been picked up on the site or very close to it.  They would have seen that for themselves, if they had bothered to do any fieldwork.  But they chose -- as usual -- to ignore anything that came from outside their own little bubble.  Secondly, they have NOT discovered that the stones came from Cerrig Lladron. There are petrographic and geochemical similarities, but it appears that they have not bothered to sample any of the dolerite outcrops at Waun Mawn itself, and have targetted the nearest tor, since in their belief system all orthostats have to be collected and brought from prominent landscape features like the Preseli tors. 

The spinning and the mythologising goes on to this day, since none of these guys can ever admit to any shortcomings in their own research.