Kammer wrote:
GLADMAN wrote:
I've no doubt about this one - Coflein are well known for being reticent without excavation, but would you really believe the third of the great trio of main Brecon Beacons summits would not have a burial cairn?
Hi Gladman,
I think it's very likely that the existing Carn Pica cairn is on the site of the Bronze Age cairn, but it's confusing to associate the two. There's also some guesswork involved (hence the reluctance of the RCAHMW to put the site on Coflein).
Those of us 'in the know' will interpret the site as posted on TMA as a reference to the location of the original cairn, but someone coming to the subject without much experience might easily think the pile of stones up there has a direct lineage to the Bronze Age cairn.
Describing the modern cairn as the 'restored cairn of Carn Pica' is perhaps a bit misleading. It's not really restored.
K x
Kammer,
You're right about the Carn Pica post....... nethertheless I think it has caused a good debate by default. TMA members certainly seem to have a lot of opinion in this respect. Good stuff.
Since every walker's guide book I'd ever seen referred to it as a 'Bronze Age burial site' I reckon I'm guilty of putting two and two together - after finally getting round to visiting the place after 20-odd years! - and getting five since I didn't do the usual checks........ thought it was another Drygarn Fawr, basically. Only Drygarn Fawr's so big it covers the entire summit and therefore any burials. Not so Carn Pica. Curious though why the existing cairn has been maintained for so long - finally receiving a full rebuild a couple of years back? Simple miscalculation in antiquity - or did the exact position even matter to the people then - or some other reason? I know of no other cairn in Wales - aside from Drygarn Fawr - like it. So much care and craftsmanship, for what? Strange.
The quote, though, refers to the summit cairn on Cribyn, which I fear will soon be no more and go the way of the probable authentic Carn Pica. I'd long suspected a Bronze Age origin from a number of visits and found that the local CPAT had undertaken a survey and clearly agreed. My sister knows (or knew) a couple of the guys/girls and basically they know their stuff.
Cheers.
