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Miscellaneous Posts by greywether

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Woofa Bank Enclosure (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork)

Three rock art sites in the Woofa bank area posted.

Using the numbering in "Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding" (PRAWR) they are,
- 352; SE 13611 45616
- 356; SE 13688 45623
- 372; SE 13889 45484

The Idol Stone (Cup Marked Stone)

Number 322 in "Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding".

Full grid reference SE 13265 45943.

Backstone Beck Enclosure (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork)

Since Chris Collyer's posting, the "Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding" (PRAWR) has been published.

The numbers and ten-figure references in that publication corrresponding to Chris's Stones 1, 2 and 3 are

Stone 1 - PRAWR 285 SE 12822 46190
Stone 2 - PRAWR 287 SE 12832 46165
Stone 3 - PRAWR 288 SE 12836 46147

Barmishaw Stone (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

Number 253 in "Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding".

Full grid reference SE 11192 46419

Ardmarnock (Chambered Cairn)

This is one of the sites which is considered to be an example of an early Clyde chambered cairn.

There is a generally accepted hypothesis that the Clyde cairns developed from simple box-like cists with some form of entrance definition to the elaborate final stages of multi-compartment axial chambers, side chambers and crescentic facades.

The early versions like Ardmarnock have the cist-like chamber fronted by two large portal stones which have no structural purpose. These portal stones are generally in line with the sides of the chamber and sit either in front of at the side of the chamber side stones.

At the risk of stretching comparisons too far, they could be considered as variations of the portal tombs found in Ireland, Wales and SW England. The main difference being that the capstone is not sloped and resting on the portals but instead sits on the chamber. Perhaps they all developed in their different ways from a starting point of a plain stone cist burial.

Another example of this early type of Clyde tomb is Ardnadam.

Some cairns like Cairnholy are said to show both the early stages and the development into the final form.

There is no dating to back up this hypothesis although it is generally supported by pottery finds.

If this hypothesis is correct, we have the interesting situation of rock art in an early neolithic site. If they are contemporary, it is a small contribution to the argument for pushing back the origins of rock art to the early neolithic.

Brainport Bay Solar Alignment (Stone Row / Alignment)

A full description of the site and some of its problems is in Clive Ruggles' "Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland".

There are probably four separate features at this site but since they are close together I have kept it as one site rather than create sub-sites.

They are listed below along with grid references, National Monument Record numbers and, where appropriate, the lettering used in Ruggles shown in {}.

Solar Alignment Viewing Platform NR97639511; NR99NE10; {A,B and C}

Cup-marked stone NR97589512; NR99NE8

Standing stone NR973950; NR99NE15

Oak Bank stone, cup-and-groove stones NR97429526 {L}, NR97429528 {K and J}

Mid Gleniron I and II (Chambered Tomb)

The 1960s excavations at Mid Gleniron provided an early indication of the multi-period nature of chambered tombs.

Mid Gleniron I started as rectangular chamber in a round cairn. This was followed by a second similar burial. These two cairns were then incorporated in a long cairn with a crescentic facade and a third burial added between the first two.

Mid Gleniron II also also started as rectangular chamber in a round cairn which was then later incorporated in a rectangular cairn with a second chamber.

White Cairn (Chambered Cairn)

This is the tomb which, following its excavation in 1949, became the type-site for the Bargrennan style of chamber tombs.

There are around a dozen of them in SW Scotland and the distinguishing feature is a chamber which is structurally indistinct from the passage. This sets them apart from the more numerous Clyde tombs whose distribution overlaps that of Bargrennan tombs.

Bargrennan tombs can be set in round or long cairns.

Callaigh Berra's House (Passage Grave)

At 1894 feet, this is said to be the highest surviving passage grave in the British Isles.

Carnbane East

I've posted some images of the art in Cairn T and have tried to tie these in to published plans of the cairn. The difficulty here is that two numbering systems have been used in the past. These are published in Shee Twohig's The Megalithic Art of Western Europe and Martin Brennan's The Stars and the Stones.

Both use the same system for passage stones - L and R for the stones to the left and right as you enter and numbered from the entrance - but different systems are used for the chamber stones.

As the Brennan publication is more generally available (and is used on some other web sites), I have concentrated on that one with the Twohig number in brackets.

Brisworthy Stone Circle

Butler reports a cup-marked boulder set into the wall to the SW near the entrance to Brisworthy. 15 to 18 shallow cups.

Soussons Common Cairn Circle

In a 1903 excavation of the cist, two large coils of human hair were found - apparently connected with contemporary withchcraft practices and not the original burial.

Yellowmead Multiple Stone Circle

The circles were reconstructed from the fallen stones in 1921 - apparently faithfully to their original positions.

There is another fourfold circle at Shovel Down.

Achnabreck (Cup and Ring Marks / Rock Art)

Achnabreck has the largest cup-and-ring mark in Scotland measuring 0.97m diameter over its seven rings. It is in the middle panel and is pictured here. In England, a similarly-sized carving is said to exist at Chatton - presumably this one and a larger one at around 1m (but nearer 1.2m prior to weathering) is at Gled Law (which I've not visited yet but it could be http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/13611">this one).
(Information from the PSAS 103 link below.)

Clach Ard (Standing Stone / Menhir)

To avoid possible confusion, there is another Clach Ard stone in Skye - a Pictish Class I stone at NG421491 also known as Tote - too modern for this site but shown here.
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