Hi Tiompan,
many thanks for your comments. I think you are right to challenge my ideas as I feel archaeologist don’t always have all the answers. But in my defence and using the words of my late mum: Reach for the stars but keep your feet firmly on the ground. Concerning the site morphology, I think you should have been there. A clear vertical cut was located close to the upper edge of the former capstone and was clearly packed using the existing cairn. The counter-argument to the site though is that during the post-medieval period many of these monuments were fair game to landowners looking for building/road stone; monuments had really lost their power. At Tefael, the archaeology could have been near enough destroyed. However, I think cautiously we have encountered in situ remains with slight surface disturbance (hence the discovery of a neck section of the medieval flagon). The geophysical survey undertaken by Tom Wellicome clearly shows a kidney-shaped anomoly and we encountered a section of this during excavation. An interim grey literature report is being written up at the moment by myself and I am more than happy to send this off to you and fellow correspondees (I need your email addresses). Next season’s work should help answer some more questions including those sought by yourself. You take care GHN