Standing with Stones DVD

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scubi63 S
scubi63 Jan 28, 2008 21:05:29
Replying to Jane

I couldn’t agree more with you comments on the making of the DVD Jane and the fact that they have made it regardless shows a commitment I can only envy.

Jane wrote:
We were very VERY interested to hear your theory about the petrified tree pillar in the middle of Bryn Celli Ddu... It makes so much sense. I'd like to know more! What do other viewers think?
The fossilised tree is a little bit of an enigma and I hope you have now seen the commentary.
Obviously the tree was already in that state when it was placed in the barrow and was probably very precious object. As Rupert and Michael mention, the combinations of both wood and stone in the same object would have brought together the two symbols of life and death (or afterlife?)
Trees may fossilise in a relatively short period of time but how common could this be? Is there any way of dating such an object?
To me the compression mark have probably been made as and when the tree fell.
The cut marks however, looked quite regular on the DVD.
Could they have been made by an animal or insect of some type? I am not sure if they could.
I am also not sure that the trunk rolling along the ground or down a hill would form such defined and regular marks either. Could they be scrape rather of hacking marks caused by movement of the tree rubbing against something when it was alive?

All very interesting and open to a good healthy debate.

:o)

Scubi

R Rupert Soskin
Rupert Soskin Jan 28, 2008 21:28:32
Replying to scubi63

Hi Scubi,
I agree with you that the pulped indentations could have been made when the tree fell. The most exciting thing about them though, is the fact that they can only happen on soft tissue. Actually it was those marks more than anything else that convinced me it was really wood and not a freak piece of mudstone.
As for the notches, it's not unusual to have crystals forming in irregular rock surfaces, in fact, if you mooch around the rocks close by in the field, there are calcite crystals which look superficially similar. The thing is the way they have affected the 'tree trunk' matrix. If it was normal crystal growth in stone it would not have caused the lateral shift... if you see what I mean. The 'dragged' bark would simply not be there.

There was one geologist I really wanted to check this out for me, Dr Alan Timms, ex Natural History and Geology Museum, a man who taught me more about the earth than anyone. Unfortunately I can't track him down since he took early retirement and I just haven't had the time to find a dendrochronologist to get on the case. The sad fact is that there is no non-destructive way to verify it. You'd have to take various samples, possibly even a core, and I can't see the authorities rushing in to that:-)

Bloody ought to though!


Rupert