Kammer
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Wot now?
Dec 11, 2002, 15:06
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Yesterday I went a walking, and stumbled across something that I think could be a fallen standing stone. It's long a thin, but quite short (as is typical around these parts) and buried except for one face. Of course it could be an old gatepost, or even natural stone protruding through the grass (unlikely).
I took a load of photos, measured it (what I could get at) and got the grid reference. When I got home I checked on the Web, and the stone isn't not on any of the RCAHMW databases.
Wot now?
Kammer x
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nigelswift
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Re: Wot now?
Dec 11, 2002, 15:15
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Can you scrape a hole underneath it and light a fire?
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Kammer
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Re: Wot now?
Dec 11, 2002, 18:57
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Pass the matches!
No, seriously (he puts on his serious face) is anyone really interested in enigmatic lumps of rock that <I>might</I> be megaliths? The only way of finding out more would be to do some digging, but I'm certainly not qualified to do that (and I don't mean in an academic sort of way).
Suggestions appreciated.
Kammer x
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nigelswift
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Re: Wot now?
Dec 11, 2002, 21:02
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I'm not qualified to tell you the answer, but I'd like to know, having found something similar myself.
What a contrast...you worrying about the correct procedure, and the arsonists making an instant unilateral judgement.
Perhaps you should post your question on the BBC forum, and get an authoritative answer from a professional archaeologist..!
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Kammer
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Re: Wot now?
Dec 12, 2002, 15:29
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Last night I asked a good friend of mine what he thought I should do. He's an archaeologist, and he said I should go and do some exploratory digging. He did say this very much off the record though. It's a tempting idea, but I have no dig experience, so I wouldn't know where to start.
Kammer
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Telepathine
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Re: Wot now?
Dec 12, 2002, 17:05
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Dunno where you are, but it could be a number of thinks...gatepost, cattle rubbing post, megalith...or maybe just a stone (are there a lot of largeish stones 'scattered' in your region?) check out the geology of the place...maybe it's just a glacial deposition, or part of some past quarrying, or part of an old wall, farm building, cattle trough Or...Or...you get the idea...you just gotta do some research man!
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Kammer
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Re: Wot now?
Dec 12, 2002, 18:04
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Thanks for the feedback Telepathine. I'll try and answer some of your questions.
> Dunno where you are...
West Wales, near the hamlet of Llwernog on the A44.
> ...it could be a number of thinks...gatepost, cattle rubbing post...
Too small I'd have thought. The bit I can get at is only 1.3 metres long. That's small for a standing stone, but not unprecedented.
> ...or maybe just a stone (are there a lot of largeish stones 'scattered' in your region?)
Not really many scattered stones around these parts, and in this specific area there are none. There's a small rocky outcrop a way off from this stone, but it looks quite different to the stone itself. The outcrop is all jagged with near vertical strata, but this little stone is very smooth and weather worn.
> ...maybe it's just a glacial deposition...
It could be. I don't know much about glaciation.
>...or part of some past quarrying or part of an old wall, farm building, cattle trough...
No quarries in the immediate vicinity, or remnants of walls.
> ...you just gotta do some research man!
I'll take a look at the old OS map and see whether there are any old boundaries running nearby. Apart from that, I'm not sure where to look. This area has been very rural for a very long time, and people haven't tended to write much down. There's some oral tradition relating to the larger sites, but if this was a standing stone (gatepost or whatever) it wouldn't have attracted much attention, especially if it fell in antiquity.
Perhaps I'll post a photo of the stone up so that you can get an idea what I'm on about.
Cheers,
Kammer x
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Kammer
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Re: Wot now?
Dec 12, 2002, 18:52
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OK, here's a link to a photo of the stone as it looked after I'd pulled the turf back a bit. It's a slightly shonky JPEG I'm afraid (about 100k):
http://users.aber.ac.uk/som/megalithic/wot_now.jpg
Incidentally, this posting and the stone in question have nothing to do with the Waun Oer stone row (as the heading implies). Somehow I managed to associate all this with the wrong site, and now I can't undo the mistake.
Kammer x
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