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Thanks... :oD

Alrighty - from what I can gather, the disputed antiquity thingy is exactly what it says! Don't get upset by it - some of mine have it too! And plenty of others' do! It really is for sites that aren't PROVEN to be of the era that TMA adheres to..!

I'd love to post all my wells here, but as most of them have no archaeological evidence to place them within the TMA remit, they are considered dubious until proven otherwise... Believe me - if the TMA Eds didn't LIKE something you've posted, it'd be gone, not just marked as disputed! :o)

Under "Submission Guidelines" (http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/submission_guidelines/) it states:
"The Modern Antiquarian focuses on megalithic sites and the ancient (i.e. prehistoric) landscape. This means we are not interested in Roman sites, Dark Ages sites, churches etc. unless they have clear prehistoric provenances (and you are prepared to tell us about them)."

So it's up to us to try to prove their antiquity (not easy - or indeed possible! - but all part of the fun)

Hope that's cleared it up a bit.

G x

PS - I love wells, and... I'm male!

As the Editor who added the 'disputed antiquity' labels to SwastikaGirl's holy wells, I want to assure her that it was not motivated by personal reasons, or indeed in any way connected with gender bias. As Goffik has so eloquently explained, TMA does have submission guidelines which explain that sites shouldn't be added en masse with no information other than their location. I merely ran through the list of recently added sites and added the 'disputed antiquity' labels, as I would as a matter of course for sites that are not recognised generally as prehistoric (eg they are not on scheduled monument lists, fallable though those might be, admittedly). I would do the same to any others I find, regardless of who has posted them.

Prehistoric sites are indisputedly the focus of the website. Mountains, rivers, streams and springs may have had prehistoric significance (beyond their uses as physical resources) in the British Isles and further afield. But unless we insist on 'hard evidence' to support sites contributed, it is difficult for readers of the site to distinguish between 'proven' and 'speculative'. Agreed, some prehistoric barrows (etc) seem to be located in relation to nearby streams and springs, and perhaps it's better to mention the well or stream as part of the fieldnotes or miscellaneous notes of the barrow? 'Standalone' wells and springs, without accompanying artefacts are a difficult subject and in my own personal opinion (if editors are allowed such things) are perhaps better elsewhere on the web. I say this because I personally would not want to see TMA diluted by too many unproven sites. Do not think that the issue of holy wells, sacred mountains etc is not one of the topics being thrashed out behind the scenes, and I think it is interesting to hear wider views on the matter.

TMA Ed.

goffik wrote:
So it's up to us to try to prove their antiquity (not easy - or indeed possible! - but all part of the fun)... I love wells, and... I'm male!
You're actually quite a well balanced chap deep down aren't you? ;)

Y'ever seen this page:
http://people.bath.ac.uk/liskmj/living-spring/journal/issue2/indepth/tghudde6.htm ?
Mostly about Welsh wells, and quite interesting (if a bit convoluted).