Mynydd Pentre Cairn(s) View all content for Mynydd Pentre

Of my trio of stoney places today this is the second place to recieve me, the one in the middle, though not a piggy, but a real gem. Inbetween Abergynolwyn and the steam railway station less than a mile down the B4405 is a small road leading up into the hills, if the road goes over the railway track your going in the right direction. You can either park here where the sign with a crossed out car is or you can save an hour and a tedious walk through the forest by driving to within a hundred yards of this enigmatic stone. Following the track through the forest is definatly the long way but easily the quickest. The track finally ends with a small place to park two or three cars and a footpath heads west from the forest onto the hills. To begin with Maggie and me walked within ten yards of it, the views were so immediate we went right past it and off up the hill. By the time I decided we must have gone too far we were up on the rocky outcroppy bit, where the best views are to be had and where Maggie couldnt stop trying to drag me over to the sheep, she only wants to play, not understanding what sheep think of all dogs, so to try and dampen her spirits we go over to a couple of dead sheep in varying states of decomposition, after a quick smell and a good look she was all mine. We sat and waited for inspiration on some rocks looking out at the mountains, as my eyes wandered this way and that, they settled on some white things below us, I'd seen them earlier but avoided them as part of maggies sheep ignoring training, then the inspiration came, whilst looking further into Mynydd Pentre on Coflein I remembered that a cairn in the vicinity was almost entirly made of quartz, this was at least a better place to start than way up here. We ran down to the white things, which soon turned into quartz boulders, and there just ten yards away was a large flat stone could this be the one, no it wasnt it didnt have any grooves or rockart of any kind so back to the quartz. The quartz boulders seem to have dragged themselves away from the cairn, which is on a knoll and mostly undercover of that nasty thick grass. From this definate cairn it was apparently just yards to the rock art dolmen capstone, but the longer grass really hampered the stone hunt. But after perservering for almost an hour and copiuos perspiration our wanderings paid off and I let out a loud "whoop !!" Maggie wasn't impressed. There are more than twenty grooves cut into the stone,( which if picked up by a giant would make a good skimming stone), and at the edge of the upper surface of the stone is a worn smooth long dish shape. I dont think it is art ( and Damien Hirst isnt an artist, so what do I know) it is much more likely to be tool polishing/sharpening, what kind of tool I dont know stone or bronze, can bronze be sharpened on a rock ? On firmer ground, the incised stone sits flatly on another stone which Coflein suggests could be a dolmen capstone, is the rest of it still there underneath it or has it been taken from a dolmen and brought here, I still dont know even after trying to reach my hand underneath it, Dolmens dont usually have two capstones, very mysterious, wheres time team when you need them digging up some samian ware no doubt.

Posted by postman 25th April 2010ce

Comments (7)
I wouldn't dismiss it as rock art .There are quite a few rocks with similar incisions ,particulary in Wales, where they are sometimes referred to as "Arrow stones " .There are others in Scotland also associated with burials . H.S "Bill " Chapman made a list of them but that one is not on it .	Posted by tiompan 25th April 2010ce
Some new bifurcating marks were also found in Borrowdale, Cumbria last September. They were about 2metres away from cup marked outcrop.	Posted by Rockrich 25th April 2010ce
Are they as old as cup and ring marks ? Ive heard of the arrow stones and seen their pictures on here, they're very similar but what are they ? another part of the stone has a rubbed smooth hollow, they dont seem very arty to me unlike the stuff we usually call rock art.	Posted by postman 25th April 2010ce
Usual story can't date either ,but Balendune in Strathtay is on a barrow and the same rock has cup marks .Other inscriibed rocks are certainly as old and in many cases in other countries older than British RA . Pluais na Scriob etc in Ireland . http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/forum/?thread=50480&message=628588 .Few markings in Skara Bare that are niot in the typical cup 'n ring mould .	Posted by tiompan 25th April 2010ce
Just to be really annoying, can I chip in with the fact that I saw some very similar marks in the quarry garden at Belsay Hall the other week, and there's no way on earth they could have been more than 100 years old or so. Having said that, there's no other marks like these in Nbland, and plenty of cups, so it could be a totally different kind of thing.	Posted by Hob 25th April 2010ce
Aye…dating that’s the difficulty isn’t it? Some have firm (or almost) contexts others it could be from 8000 to 100years. This is an outlier at Castlerigg: http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/6168/castlerigg.html not all bifurcation (well....few) and is thought to be plough marks from recumbent days	Posted by Rockrich 25th April 2010ce
A wee collection here . http://rockartuk.fotopic.net/g3953.html	Posted by tiompan 25th April 2010ce
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