Hi folks. I'm trying to establish the extent of deliberately altered scree patches in the mountains of the British Isles. Have been working on this for 10 years in Ireland, and to date have found many thousands of individual formations. These usually consist of bowl shaped depressions in the rocks, surrounded by larger stones. In some cases a crudely formed back wall can be found, or in its place a single chocked boulder. Occasionally quartz has been used as adornment. Also to be found in close association with the altered scree are propped slabs and small pits.
To date these features have been recorded in the Comeragh, Knockmealdown, Blackstairs, Galty, Wicklow and to a lesser extent Sleive felim mountains. Similar features were also spotted in the Prescelli mountains in South west Wales in Nov 2011. In April 2008, what appeared to be burnt stone was found in sevearal of the Comeragh and Knockmealdown bowls, leading to suspicions of cremation.
Chris Tilley has I believe found something similar on Bodmin moor, and Peter Rogers likewise in Cumbria. For the same thing to be found in two seperate countries opens up a whole new avenue of archaeology, and suggests cultural links between Britain and Ireland were far greater than previously thought. It also opens up the question of origins. Did these formations originate in Ireland and travel west, or were they a cultural import from Britain or even further afield?
To date the Irish archaeological profession has refused to engage in any way whatsoever. Their reasons for doing so can only be guessed at, but it places them in direct contravention of the Valetta convention, to which Ireland is a signatory. Not the response I would have expected from 'educated' people.
Be that as it may, I'm sure there is a lot more of this out there, only thanks to the collapse of the Irish economy I no longer have the means to find it. What I'm trying to do is establish the limits of what was once a widespread and important part of the lives of our ancestors. Once recognised, this scree alteration is not difficult to see, so has anyone else out there any information which could help in this project? I can be contacted at rock_prof@yahoo.co.uk and would be most grateful for any assistance I can get. And that includes members of the Irish archaeological profession. Thanks and good luck.
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