Latest Fieldnotes

Carn Edward roofed shelter?

This isn’t just a natural feature -- although it is a very beautiful tor. I recently discovered a very old curving stone wall on the downslope side of the eastern of the two rocky crags. This was either a sheepfold or -- more likely, I think -- a roofed-over shelter or small dwelling. There are several of these on Carningli -- where the rock face provides the shelter from the west, and where a semi-circular stone wall has been built to make a cost-effective shelter. There is one at Carn Enoch, another not far away beneath a small tor between Carn Edward and Carningli, and several on Carningli itself. There are others among the tors at the eastern end of Mynydd Preseli. How old are these features? My guess would be Bronze Age, but some could be Iron Age or even later. Maybe they were used as shepherd’s shelters for more than two thousand years.......

I’ve been mapping the “camp” or hillfort for the last 12 month, using a base map from Hogg and also using Google satellite imagery and other published photos. A lot is visible just now, following extensive burning.

My revised map is here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carningli_hillfort

This is a very spectacular and technically sophisticated hillfort, with features similar to Norman motte and bailey castles. The fort is on a rocky ridge, with a ‘village” inside a pronounced defensive embankment at the NE end (the lee side of the mountain) and three connected enclosures or baileys at the SW end. On the SE face of the mountain natural cliffs and scree slopes are used as defences -- and on the NW side substantial defensive embankments have been built. The rocky summits of the mountain are the “motte” -- no doubt used as a last defensive position in case the defences were breached.

The defensive embankments have been slighted -- when and why?

Been doing a lot of walking on Carningli lately, and am now convinced that there are at least 12 Bronze Age dwellings there, mostly on the north flank, but with one small cluster (3 huts?) on the southern slope of the mountain. There is fantastic new imagery on Google (satellite images) with 2007 imagery -- much more detailed that what was there before. Most of the hut circles show up very clearly. in addition to the dwelling huts there are abundant stone takes, clearance cairns, trackways, entrenched tracks, standing stones, stone walls, ring cairns, paddocks etc -- and one burial cairn at Carn Briw. This was clearly a key Bronze Age settlement site -- probably much more important than the eastern end of Mynydd Preseli around Carn Meini and Foeldrygarn. Proximity to the sea and to a good fishing river might have had something to do with it?

The Iron Age community that lived in the Carningli “village” within the hillfort was much larger, and lived in a defended clustered settlement. I have posted a new map of the hillfort here:

homepage.mac.com/brianjohn4/PhotoAlbum13.html

and a photo gallery of prehistoric Carningli here:

brianjohn.f2s.com/carningli2.html

There’s a signpost from the main road, and then another one at a bend with a side turn only a few metres later. Then nothing. We drove on, through a flock of sheep across the road, and on, and eventually found someone to ask. He directed us back to Borore instead of his local tomba! A quick U turn, and back through the sheep again. We stopped again at the sign, and turned again, determined to find it. Back through the sheep, but this time we took a side turn to the left and parked just before the stream. The field in front of us had a rocky plateau with some ruined buildings, but not what we were looking for – so we set of up the lane on foot. Beardy went left and I went straight on, and found someone to ask. “Scusi, io non parlo Italiano. Dove è tomba di gigante Uore?” He didn’t know, or I couldn’t understand. So back to the car and back through the sheep.
Now, turn to page 444 of your copy of TME; the middle image is Uore. Now located by the power of Wikimaps. We should have been on the other side of the road, but only metres away. Pah!

There’s an impressive high bastion wall adjoinging the nuraghe. It’s very overgrown, but you can make out the upper level of the tower, and in the undergrowth, what appears to be the top of the entrance into its lower level.

The rock art in the Ben Lawers area has been well scoured , particularly a fine tooth comb survey by RCAHMS in 2000 , neverthelss it is still possible to find “new” stuff ,there were four new ones today including one at 630m , second highest in Britain .The most photogenic was this one , over 90 cup marks ,rings , connecting grooves etc .

I thought I’d go for one not in the TME and armed with map and compass, my daughter and me headed to the north east of the island.
I must have been in the zone or something because it was much easier to find than i anticipated. After getting to the long gated drive we passed through the gate, drove the drive and parked at the house, Torre Blanca. A lady was taking her son to school so I asked Sa Torreta? Then came a jumble of Spanish, but miraculously
I gleaned from this, two gates, keep left.
A five minute walk, and the taula peers at you over the trees. It was sheer bliss to find this place intact despite its proximity to the house, The tall taula is blacked at the bottom from ritual burning and the sanctuary wall is still high, but above it all is the large talaiot with exotic views out to sea and over land to Menorca’s central sacred hill El Toro.
We sat quietly and watched house geckos for a while, I love ‘em, and I love this place.

Unfortunatly my computer was down before we left home so I was unable to read the other feildnotes much to my cost. I set off looking for Julians Torre Llisa Vell but by the time I’d found So Na Cacana it was too early to go in and we’d brought no money anyhow, very annoying, so we returned later that day. The taula sanctuaries and burial cave are as ever the stars of the poblat so by now we were ignoring the talaiots, specially ones with “No Climbing “signs.

This one is my favourite so far, we’d been to the water park followed by cart racing and after all that it was extremely nice to have a bit of me time, the wife was soaking rays and the kids were chasing lizards which left me free to explore at will.
There are standing stones first from the carpark looking for all the world like an arc of a large stone circle. Next is the cave with megalithic entrance, then it’s up to the talayot with a trig point with a you know what kind of view.
The sanctuary is a bit ruined, but enough remained to send me into a dream state and I just sat for a minute trying to soak in the place and then sit somewhere else and the same again, I just couldnt sit still, theres so much to see in these places.Even the gargantuan wall has three chambers and a doorway?
Throw in Buzzards, Kites and a Booted eagle in the air and geckoes ( they use static electricity to stick to walls y’know)amongst the stones and this was one happy place

The grid refs for these carvings will not be added to the site for added protection for these very rare and unique carvings. The area contains carvings of deer, horses, horse shoe as well as the more common type of cup and ring carving. Panels that contain both cup and ring as well as horses and deer are very very rare, and put these carvings amongst the most important we have in Galloway and indeed the UK.

An impressive looking monotower nuraghe north west of Sedillo. It’s 8.2m tall with a diameter of 14m.

My research notes describe it as being constructed from red basalt; the easterly entrance has a niche to one side and steps to the left leading to the (destroyed) upper level, and leads through to a prefect tholos chamber (5.3m diameter, 7m tall) with 3 niches arranged to form a cruciform with the entrance passage.

However, the field and particularly the area around the nuraghe had the largest, most brutal, thistles we’d seen so far, so we viewed from a distance but had a look around the field and the vicinity to see if we could see its associated tomba – we couldn’t.

On the opposite side of the road is a large gate to the nuraghe and the village which surrounds it. The village huts are a more recent discovery, and the best preserved one can be seen by taking the path between the two roped off sections of village towards the trees north of the nuraghe.

The nuraghe itself is of mixed type (part tholos, part corridor). Through its entrance on the south eastern side, there’s a tholos chamber with an impresive niche in the facing wall. To the left, the stairs to the rest of the building have been roped off as it’s unsafe due to landslides.

Smaller than tomba B, but better preserved, this grave is only metres away with an incredible view over the lake.

The esedra is over 11m wide, and its stones are leaning forward towards the lake. The broken centre slab has a portal hatch 70cm x 55cm. The funery corridor (inside dimensions 4.7m x 0.8m) is perfectly formed and the rear of the grave has the same style of curved stones as its neighbour.

For the modern ticket / info huts, the first thing you see is the perfect curves of the back of tomba B – and the amazing view over Lake Omodeo. The lake however was created around 1920 with a dam across the Tirso, so the original vista would have been over the valley, with its numerous nuraghe, some of which reappear when the water level is low.

The corridor is about 10m x 1.4m and is paved with huge stone slabs. The grave is impressive but not well preserved; in the small copse of trees there are several huge pieces of carved stone which once belonged to it.

This group – consisting of 2 tomba di gigante, a nuraghe and village around it, a dolmen and a domus de janus – is just west of Sedillo, and is signposted from the town.

I was rather excited about what we’d find here, and in the vicinity, and hoped that there would be someone around to ask ..... there are 3 huts which look distinctly like a visitors’ centre, ticket hut, and toilets, respectively, but not a soul in sight. No notices either, but I assume an entrance fee is payable.

From the parking area, the two tombs are to the south, overlooking Lake Omodeo, the nuraghe and village to the north, but the domus de janus and dolmen remain a mystery to us.

My notes said that the domus de janus – Ispiluncas – consisting of 34 tombs – is “on the slopes of the hill where the nuraghe rises” and my Google Earth map showed it on the slope below the info/ticket huts. I had a grid reference for the dolmen – the wrong grid reference! – and a description of its location “the monument is found to the right of the nuraghic complex”.

well signposted off the Me1 but the one car road to the carpark is horrible, its a smooth ride but tall walls on both sides really squeeze you in. As we set out of the carpark an old couple attracted our attention and told us it was a 2 hour round trip, for you maybe I thought Ive two kids whos first words upon arrival are guarranteed to be” can we go now”! (sigh ....leave ‘em at home I implore you)
It was a long walk to the poblat but a stones throw compared to say... Bryn Cader Faner. First thing we found was the megalithic picnic sight which threw me a bit, no way thought I, Then I saw the Taula through the trees and off we went, standing almost alone compared to yesterday visits to Den Salort and De Dalt there is a large mound of rubble with two menhirs sticking out of it, presumably the last remnant of the sanctuary wall. Nearby is the Talaiot which by now we all but, but not quite ignore on our way to the anthropomorphic tombs, we found the one with angled entrance lintels, and the one with a pillar in it but because of the constant can we go now I missed the one with stone seats and carved walls.
Taulas are just fantastic I could spend a whole day at any of them

I dont understand this siesta thing, surely its just sciving, there was no-one in at Talati de Dalt’s shed at about 2.00pm, so we climbed the wall where the pokey out steps were. Heading up the hill we took the left path which took us to the chambers and caves, I’ve never seen so many, I’d just start to investigate one chamber with a large stone basin (which reminded me of Newgrange) when one of the kids would shout over “I’ve found another one” and then “so have I” they just carried on, caves inside caves with stone walling to make them more subterranean. We saw our first lizards here a colourful wall lizard and a large house gecko (they don’t have eyelids y’know) Not far, at the top of the hill is the talaiot, still very tall, and what a view look to the horizon and there’s Monte Toro and at your feet the taula sanctuary. The wall of the sanctuary is mostly a tumbled ruin, except where theres a chamber with pillars under it. The holed stone would cause me a trip of a hundred miles at home, but here it’s the taula which holds my attention. On the way back to the carpark is another cave probably in use earliest on this wonderful hill, it has its back to the megaliths and looks out to Monte Toro.

It was mid morning when we arrived the sun was shining and it was waaaarm, a coach load of oldies were coming out so we hung on a bit, paid the bloke in the shed and walked on in.
First we pass the still tall talaiot but then the path takes you away and straight to the taula sanctuary, i got the same feeling of awe here as I did at Stonehenge. The taula is I think the tallest on Menorca and an incredible monument on its own never mind the megalithic wonderland all around. There are niches all around the wall and the whole place is built in solid bedrock, the taula is in a rock cut pit which must of been a right pain to cut out. some of the menhirs in the wall are concreted in, but it doesn’t matter at all, this place is magic and I could stay here forever.
But just past the threshing floor and well are two strange caves the entrance to cave one is carved but straight through and to your left is another deeper cave, Cave two has a stone basin inside towards the back, and must go right under cave one if not then they’re only a few feet away.
The path then takes you past the original megalithic wall that surrounds the whole place, then its on to another cave, this one I think wholly man made, pillars hold up big stones which hold up bigger stones, the whole place looks very likely to fall in at any moment.

I cant imagine why this place and the other taula sanctuaries aren’t more famous, this was my first and it really blew me away.

The stone across the circular area of the long cairn in front of where the chamber/s are looks to me to be the top of a stone that framed an entrance thereto and on the northern side there appears to be a rough line of stones coming down the mound from it – certainly the upper portions of the circular mound changes construction east and west of the distinctively aligned stone [unfortunately though the grass ‘line’ should indicate bilateral symmetry, in the third leading up to the proposed entrance there is much less material exposed on the south side (but the grassy ‘line’ is present again behind the chambers back wall for a short space) where the other half of the entrance should lie]. Found a couple more small holes in various places but my tape measures them as no more than 12-18” deep and most likely burrows. Going the same way as last time and only lifting my head as I come to the putative SE hornwork I find myself looking very much at the side of the long cairn, rather than towards the end as I should be doing if that were correct. My possible cairn is roughly south of Long Cairn where the c of cairn is on the 1:25,000. Disappointed to find the stone isn’t kerb-like but only faces across the upper side. It is only 10” long by 12” high, and from the fact it moves slightly my guess is it doesn’t go far down. Up close for a photo I try to remove a light brown root, maybe 3-4” long almost directly behind the northern end only to find it is the top of another stone (either a deep ‘peg’ or the very top of a stone buried deeper – you don’t dig this close to a SAM so I only pull grass and loose earth which doesn’t work). It feels very even, as if worked, so my thinking is ‘box’ rather than ‘socket. Though the ‘standing stone’ is inside the grassy area I know think this is about 4m away from the edge of the possible mound, which is 8-10m diameter and either circular or oval. From the likely centre the edge is fairly certain but though it sits on a slope I don’t observe a platform or other levelling feature. At this centre the soil has been ?recently exposed in a couple of adjacent spots. The most obvious is the top few inches of a stone, jagged like sharp mountain peaks, then alongside is the flat face of a light stone or maybe the top of another vertical (only a few square inches of this exposed). Going ovr to the ‘modern’ structure by The Castle there are only more stones under the wheel. Further west to the old boundary dyke (which terminates away from the coast on the north side – marshy from there). This abuts the west end of a circular rise that is either another mound or is a natural ‘island’ in the watery landscape. Size on the order of that of Long Cairn’s circular section but not so high, probably marking the end of the Head of Work’s central ridge though not apparently part of it (for all practical purposes dyke and rise are a single entity..

Right next to Tomba A you find what’s probably the most famous feature of the site – the 6 betili.

They were recorded by Count Albert de la Marmora but his notes give different positions, so they may well not be in their original place.

The 3 to the south represent the female figure, with obvious carved breasts; they are also taller, at just over 1.5m, than the males (1.23m – 1.38m) to the north. All are cone-shaped basalt.

The largest and most impressive of the 3 tombas, also known as “Betyls’ Grave” due to its proximity to the 6 menhirs (betyls or betili).

As at tomba B, there’s a bench along the esedra – this time its maximum width is over 20m. The total length is over 22m, and the burial corridor itself is 9.5m x 1.3m.

The thick walls are actually 2 walls with the cavity between them filled with rubble and earth.

The entrance to the corridor has a stone with a round cornered rectangle carved out of it – only one side remains, but it appears to be the portal to the grave.

The information boards show a reconstruction – a tomba made from courses of stone as we’d seen at Mura Cuada rather than those with a stele as at Coddu Vecchju.

The second grave, tomba B, is more impressive than the first. Though ruinous, it’s easy to see the esedra, or winged forecourt, with a width of 14.5m. The corridor is paved with square stone slabs.

The whole tomb is almost 17½m long, and has a long low bench surrounding out. Finds from inside date it similarly to tomba C.

As you go up the hill to Tamuli, the first tomba, known as tomba C, is to the right.

It’s the smallest of the 3 here, and is irregular in shape. It’s hard to work it out, but there is a narrow corridor, and the front of the grave has a paved forecourt but is missing the typical esedra. Remains found outside it have dated it to 1500 – 1200 BCE.

This is the taller and more complete of the two navetas here, inside is darker and there are two shelves one at the back and one above the entrance, the stone of which is broken at the bottom. The roof has weighted at each end capstones to prevent collapses. This is my 5th naveta and my last, it’s time for taulas, but they have left me knowing that they’re as important and cool as any Bryn celli ddu or even a maes howe. Start saving now and come to menorca its mindblowing, im already feeling dizzy .

Laughably easy to find, no map needed just look for the purple sign and go down side lane for 200m and they’re both off to the left. A good few days could be spent just driving up and down the main road across the island, the Me1.they’re all signposted .
This Naveta like the last 3 has been raised on exposed bedrock and also has a nicely carved entrance stone.
The roof is well worthy of note as the capstones are counterweighted at each side to stop them falling in, like the Kings chamber roof in the Great pyramid of Giza. (if i’m not mistaken) Inside the chamber isnt dark but light and airy, quite nice actaully, if you dont mind weird grey caterpillers black beetles and some type of funnel web spider.
Rafal Rubi 2 is 80m towards the Me1 a well worn path leads the way.