Fyfield Down Cup Marked Stone Cup Marked Stone View all content for Fyfield Down Cup Marked Stone

Cheers for posting this one Mr Paulus. It's much appreciated as the presence of RA not only this far south, but in the area of all the Avebury stuff is very interesting. The cups themselves are very smoothed out, and fit the bill from the drawing. The horseshoe is very evident, as is the 'slug' mark, possibly a half-finished groove from one of the cups near the horseshoe. There are also some angular, yet serpentine (?) grooves at turf level on the south side of the stone. These look like they might be enhanced natural marks in places. Thy were easy to find, as the result of a very well informed guide, who knew of it in advance, and accompanied myself and diverse others, right to the stone. It's in a section of the IA field system adjacent to that containing the pollisoir. If you find the polisher, look to the east, just beyond the first of the old field boundaries, where the land starts to rise again. To my mind, the most remarkable thing about these marks was the fact that they're on Sarsen. It's bloody hard, and would take some pecking even with modern metal tools, let alone another bit of sarsen. Much discussion ensued regarding the techinique used, and what they might mean. There may be more in the area, and it's unsure if this one is in situ, or has been shifted during the construction of the field system. Fyfield cup spotters should note that as the local sarsen has so many natural holes, it's not a straight forward business, for example, there's a stone to the SE that has a lovely natural bullaun-type basin. Others have possible small horseshoe motifs.

Posted by Hob 3rd August 2004ce

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