Latest Fieldnotes

Campo Lontano proved hard to find. Very hard. Julian gives no instructions as to how to find it on page 440 and 441 of TME where he shows it. We had only Moth and Sals’s desk research to go on: a Google Earth print-out and some notes translated from Italian to English by google.

From Florinas, the sat nav took us down blind alleys and eventually impassable farm tracks and after a long frustrating detour around some mountains we finally found a road sign to it, just west of Banari and Siligo. However road signs, we had learned, can take you up more blind alleys or only point you half the way then leave you stranded, so we weren’t counting any pollo.

We drove up the steep, narrow, rutted farm track narrowly avoiding tearing off the hire car’s undercarriage or scratching the bodywork (drivers of a nervous disposition, don’t try this lane!) until we reached a junction. Which way? There was no sign. We left the car where it was and walked down the left hand fork only to be stopped by a wire fence which had been erected across the track. Not this way, obviously. So we tried the other way which took us up to a farm building. We could hear some sheep bells and there were two cars parked: “Buen Giorno!” we called out. After a while a tiny brown man in a dirty vest appeared from the barn and we pointed to the monument on the map. He pointed in a vague direction eastwards and after a conversation entirely in English on our part and Italian on his, managed to work out it was in a field (campo) 100 (cento) metres beyond the white rocks (roccia bianco) that we could see.

It was hot, there was no shade and it looked like it was about 1200ms away, but we’d come this far and couldn’t give up now, so we walked along the track which ran parallel to an enormous rocky cliff above which a couple of eagles soared.

A farm truck passed us. A younger man leaned out and indicated that it was in the meadow beyond a big tree he pointed to o the road ahead of us. As indeed it was. Shaded under a large fig tree.

This is no ordinary monument – Campo Lontano (which means ‘far field’) is amazing as it combines the skill of rock cutting with the construction of a freestanding tomba. It is entirely carved from an above-ground naturally occurring large rocky outcrop. It looked like it had been partially shaped – the same shape as the internal structure of Molafa which we had seen earlier in the day. The front of the tomb was cut to the same shape too – using all the elements seen in a tomba di giganti’s stele in fact: catflap, square base, arched top and mullion. The cat flap was too small to squeeze through, but peering through I could see the tomb has been cracked open at the back, so I whizzed round and climbed it.

Internally, it feels like a Menorcan naveta – a small room tall enough to stand up in and wide enough to stand arms outstretched. At the end with the cat flap a low bowl or shallow receptacle had been carved on the floor – for liquid offerings perhaps?

This is a remarkable monument in every way – the closest thing I’ve seen to it before is the freestanding rock cut tombs in Lycia, Turkey which (I believe) are of a later date.

Yes, it was worth the hours it took to find it and the sunburned shoulders.

From the fork in the road, it’s just over 250 metres, and just past a house on the right, to the field the dolmen is in on the left. The signpost was lying in the long grass – Beardy picked it up and put in on the wall – but an info board (a little too weary from the sun to be of much use) confirmed we were in the right place.

No one had been here for a while, from the height of the grass and wild flowers!

It actually took us quite a while to find the dolmen ..... from the road, there’s a narrow strip before the field opens out. From the end of this strip, there are two distinct clumps of trees ahead – go between them and look for a stone kerb on your left. There’s a rocky outcrop at the end of the kerb, and I spotted, buried in the grass, a bright yellow “DOLMEN” sign. Look to your left and you should see the capstone.

From the crossroads, it’s about 800m to the dolmen. You should be able to see it in an enclosure to the right of the road, not long after a 90 degree bend. Just after you think you’ve passed the dolmen, there’s an information board and a gate to the enclosure.

There’s another info board within – shot up! The dolmen itself has 4 supporting stones, though the capstone only appears to rest on 3 of them. The capstone is huge – well over 2ft thick.

Our first tomba of the day, and an unusual one in that is has two pairs of side cells off its corridor. The entrance to the tomba is away from the road, though the back has fallen so you can see right the way through.

The right hand wing of the esedra has been lost in the field; the left side forms part of the field boundary.

The info board showed a tomba in the field directly opposite, but we couldn’t spot it and didn’t investigate too closely as there were numerous dogs barking at us from the farm next door, but as usual no one in sight for us to ask.

From the grandness of Monte D’Accoddi, a public, community monument, we set off to find a much smaller monument, perhaps a family tomb – a tiny but perfect rock cut tomb almost certain pre-dating the tombi di giganti, called Molafa. For reasons we couldn’t fathom, Julian calls it Malafa, even though on the map and on the nearby railway station it’s clearly called Molafa. Following Julian’s instructions it is indeed ‘45 paces along a verdant gully’.

Just a few metres up the path there it is cut into the rock of a low cliff face that you can reach by scrambling up. Incredibly there is a natural platform directly in front of the opening to the tomb – granted not wide, but wide enough to act as an altar or sacred, ceremonial space, not unlike an esedra or forecourt.

The opening the to tomb is carved in a quite remarkable way for it echoes the pattern of a tomba di giganti stele – that is a square opening with arched top – complete with carved mullion, as I’ve already said pre-dating the tombi.

I would have immediately shot into the tomb had I not been diverted by a superb and friendly lime green grasshopper who needed to be admired. Insect-admiration complete, I then dived into the tomb. About 3ms long and 2ms or so wide, it’s not big. But with its barrel arched ceiling reflected in the shape of the carved arch ‘gable’ above the portal, and integral stone bench running around the side and back walls, it is about as perfect in its simplicity as a rock cut tomb can be. Over the centuries people have lit fires in here – the ceiling is black with a thick layer of soot. It strongly reminded both me and Moth of a scaled-down version of the rock cut chambers we’d seen at Little Petra in Jordan. They had had highly complicated designs (frescoes) painted on their lofty ceilings which centuries of Bedouin fires had blackened. I could see no evidence of that here, but if it has been decorated (and why wouldn’t it have been?) this ceiling was lower and more easily damaged early on in its history.

We were delighted to have found this place. It evidently gets very few visitors and it is well worth it.

From Nuraghe Miuddu, head to the gate where you enter the field and then the corner beyond it. Follow the edge of the field south – there’ll be a hedgerow to your left – and climb the (low) wire fence at the end. Now clamber over the big rocky outcrop to the right. The tomba is on the slope just below and to the right a bit.

Quite ruinous, with a bush growing right in front of the centre of the esedra. There’s one capstone still in place – the views from here are incredible!

If you are heading west on the 129 towards Macomer, this is what you’ll find at the first junction you come across for Birori.

There’s no way in; there are two collapsed small tholos rooms on its south side, so the chances are it’s at least a trilobate if not quadrilobate structure.

There are some village huts visible in the long grass around the nuraghe too.

Looked at this area several times in the winter of 2007-2008 -- much easier than in the summer, when the bracken is high. The pictured hut is called Hut No 1 by Pearson:
envf.port.ac.uk/geo/research/carningli/archaeology.htm
There is another hut circle on lower ground adjacent to Cot Llwyd cottage. Abundant Bronze Age traces everywhere -- old walls, clearance cairns, trackways, stone takes etc.
There appears to have been one small settlement here, and another around Carn Llwyd N, where there are 5 or 6 huts (I find more every time I walk across the area. Easy to see just now, after some very big gorse burns this past winter.

Curving ditch and embankment not far from Carn Llwyd (NB beware -- there are two tors with the same name in this area!) which appears to have been abandoned when only partially complete. Ditch on the outside and embankment on the inside. Something of a mystery.... but in the neighbourhood there are many Bronze Age hut circles -- at least 10 on this side of the mountain and at least 3 on Carningli South. Also a Bronze Age burial cairn at Carn Briw -- so this was a substantial Bronze Age settlement area. Described in detail by Alastair Pearson -- and now very clear on the new Google satellite imagery.

Shown on some versions of the OS maps, and clearly visible on the new Google satellite imagery, this little round house base is easily accessible and close to the footpath from Carningli Lodge up onto Carningli Common. It’s almost certainly a farmstead -- it is associated with small storage structures, at least one larger rectangular hut, and a “lane” leading up to various enclosures / paddocks higher up the slope. It’s very similar to the other Bronze Age huts and associated features on the N flank of the mountain. News report here:
brianjohn.f2s.com/carningli3.html
and some linked photos here:
brianjohn.f2s.com/carningli2.html

Visited on a still, sunny day this site was a real pleasure. Being in a low land setting it lacks the scenic views of the grander sites in Northumberland but is still well worth a visit.

Access is relatively easy, park at the cross roads west of Doxford Hall and walk west to reach the public right of way going South from the lane. The official access point is through the garden of the cottage but the owner has put up signs warning of large dogs. I didn’t see any but decided that I’d re-route rather than take the chance. Walk about 50m up the lane and there is a break in the hedge with a low wire fence (no barbed wire on top) that provides easy access. Head roughly south across the first field to the fence ahead. Follow the boundary of the field ahead (stay on the right of the fence) passing the site on your left. At the end of the field there is a gate on the left providing easy access to the south end of the site. The site is used for grazing sheep so best avoided during lambing.

The site looks like a defended settlement rather than a “fort” of any kind. The defensive banks are strong on the stream sides but far weaker on the remaining sides. A naturally raised location close to running water and good farmland being the obvious features of the site.

The main raised area to the south and is a rough ellipse of 75m by 50m with a central raised area within (planted with trees and easy to see on Google Earth). The ground in the main raised area is flat but very uneven and there could be a number of features buried here.

To the north east and separated by a ditch is a smaller (and slightly lower) raised platform (again with trees at the highest point). This smaller platform is very interesting. It’s not obvious from the ground but looking at images from Google Earth, and in particular Microsoft VE this looks like part of a ramped entry from the north east, with a long sloping ramp leading to the smaller platform and then the ditch before accessing the main platform.

The whole site appears to have had some later ridge and furrow ploughing over the flatter areas but there are terraces on the east side that could be original.

The nearby lake is a Victorian garden landscape addition and doesn’t appear on maps earlier than 1900. Looking at earlier maps the construction of the lake could have removed some of the first parts of the ramp in the far north east.

The site could well be linked to others by the stream that passes to the south of the site. Dunstan Hill is the first obvious raised area before the stream joins Brunton Burn and meets the North Sea about 4 miles away. There is another settlement on raised ground 1.5m upstream near North Charlton and around 2.5 downstream there is crop mark evidence of ring ditches on Embleton Moor near Brunton.

Wow! Until visiting Santa Cristina I’d not been to any holy wells anywhere, and much as that one had impressed me with its sharp lines, this just, well, words just about fail me to describe how stunning this place is.

Check out the pictures!

The well itself is a tholos construction with steps up – to a long passage guarded by betili, with steps / seats to the left and a bank to the right with a path along the top – and leading on to the most spectactular amphitheatre with banked seating all the way round and a clearing beyond that.

Was water brought to the waiting “congregation”, or was a journey made from the amphitheatre to the well? Which ever way, the passage had an electric sensation about it ....

By far, my favourite place of the trip. I could have spent hours here.

The third temple at Romanzesu is different in that it’s rectangular (you’d never guess from its name!) with its entrance half way along one of its longer sides. It’s in the lower part of the site, in the trees to the right as you head towards the well.

Temple B is of the same construction as Megaron Temple A, and is a short walk up the path behind it. It’s almost surrounded by cork oaks and is right next to a huge rocky outcrop.

The first megaron temple is near the entrance and sacred enclosure. It has a vestibule and then the main room with an L shaped stone bench round 2 walls and a place for offerings. The back walls of the temple are extended, as we saw at Serra Orrios, and the information boards show the structure originally with a steeply pitched roof.

Clearly signposted from the 389 between Bitti and Budduso; there’s a left turn (if heading north) a couple of km north of the junction to/from Nule and Benetutti. Then 3km on single track lane, but actually a reasonable road and signposted all the way.

The site is open 09:00-13:00 and 15:00-19:00 (Sundays 09:30-13:00 and 14:30-19:00) with 3 guided tours run in each half day. Entry is 3.10 euros for adults with various reductions available. The ticket office is the hut on the carpark; we signed the guest book and were lent a plan of and guide to the site. There’d only been one other visitor all day, and unsurprisingly, we had the place to ourselves for the afternoon.

The complex covers 7 hectares, in a beautiful, if rather windy, spot, with cork oaks and clearings with dappled sunlight. About 20 huts are visible, though there are over 100, and there are 3 temple buildings and a sacred well, each listed separately. The grid reference given for the whole site is that of the entrance to it.

Straight in front of you, the first thing you see is the sacred enclosure with a couple of small huts beyond it, and the megaron temples to the right; following the path ahead goes to the main part of the complex, with the rectangular temple and holy well. The other main features here are huts with niches and hearths, and low benches round their interior walls; one hut is unusual in that is has a central dividing wall, and there’s also the “great hut” divided into rooms.

It was about 8.00am when we parked the car on the forts northern side and it took about 20 minutes to get up.(I had a 6yr old in tow, don’t look at me he wanted to come) First to be reached was what looked like a dwelling of some sort with a stone that had red water resting in a hollow on it, presumably this is the place where iron working was done. From there we can see a chevaux-de-frise, lots of short pointy stones used to impede any attackers, something I don’t think Ive seen before. Then going up the hill through two stone built entrances the upper one still large and impressive with the thick walls reaching off around the hill. There are more obvious round huts on the southern side one even has doorposts. The view from the top is beautiful looking down to the river or staring of into the mountains, one could sit here quite a while, if your alone that is, this is the best place to have a defended settlement along the river because it juts right out away from the mountains and into the valley, further along the valley I could see the smaller Caer Bach .

This bowl barrow is very similar to the nearby Mag’s barrow, several hundred metres to the west. It is in the garden of a large house and appears in good condition. It has a 3 metre wide ditch surrounding it, it is 25 metres across and 2 metres in height.

A bowl barrow in the garden of a very posh house, I took my photo very quickly in case they called the police! The barrow is 25 metres in diameter and 2 metres in height. Apparently it has an intact ditch, I couldn’t see it as the plant cover was too dense.
This and the similar Ralph’s barrow a few hundred metres to the east are lucky survivals in the middle of a housing estate. These barrows are part of a strung out cemetery on the former Parley heath, of which only a small part remains.
The street is very helpfully named after the monument.

Just 90 minutes before airport check-in time and I was paying to get in to Trepuco, cutting it a bit short but as it’s so close to the airport I just had to. It had been raining all day but it just made me feel more at home, besides there were plenty of places to shelter from the rain, The cave is just a few metres beyond the kiosk/shed, and the giant talaiot is a good wind-break, but the best place to stand was under the taula. It’s not the most intact of poblats some of it even off bounds, and even though half of the taula sanctuary is concreted in place it was still well worth the entry fee (2 euros i think), and before long I was getting a phone call from the car,it was time to go.
But Menorca just kept on giving, even on the runway we could still see Toellonet talaiot.themodernantiquarian.com/post/67507/images/torrellonet.html

The western Pap is harder to get to and looks to me to have been less tampered with.
From the eastern Pap you have to head into the bosom of the paps and back up again. The bottom of the bosom is pretty wet and this is after a really dry spell in Ireland so I think if the weather was wet at all this part could be very soggy.
Its about 0.8 of a km from the eastern to the western Pap and its a tough up and down.
The eastern Pap is smaller than the western one however the nipple is bigger.
Once you are on the eastern pap getting back to the car can be tricky so make sure and save some energy for the return trip.

The eastern pap is the bigger of the two and the one I feel that is the most visited.
To reach it drive up the long track that is marked on the OS map that leads up to the lake on the eastern side.
The track gets rough after the lake but keep going until you come to a gate and some forestry. This is the best place to set off climbing from and there are some tracks up the hill.
Saying that its a tough climb with a very steep slope.
The cairn itself is unusual in that it is built kinda in the style of a cathair with the stones laid horizontally on top of each other rather than just heaped randomly.
The nipple I would has been modified and built up recently but perhaps it is keeping to tradition.
The info board gives the size of the cairn as being 4m and a diameter of 20m so I will go with that.
There are panoramic views from up here to countless other hills. The info board also notes that it is thought that both these cairns are megalithic tombs and that they are aligned to the setting sun.

The City of Shrone is a very interesting site as the information boards attest due to its continous use since the Neolithic and its relationship with the Paps of Anu.
To get there best to head to Rathmore and there is a road to the west of the town that leads almost directly to the site.
It is interesting that the road itself form a circle leading to the cathair. Maybe this was once part of a pattern.
There is an information sign at the school just before the entrance to the road into The City and a second information sign just at The City.
The second sign kinda points you south to the Paps while The City itself is to the north of the sign in behind some old farm sheds. Not exactly the setting I expected for a “City”.
The OS map points to an ogham stone around the cathair but I couldnt find it.
The holy well just to the west of the cathair, although modernised’ is lovely as it contiunous bubbles up and the water tasted great.
The cross inscribed slabs are interesting because they look as if they have been ‘renewed’ or rescratched recently.
I met a few people around the site and they all seemed very friendly to people coming to The City.

This tomba is right in Birori – it reminded us of the cairn circle at Aviemore for its proximity to the houses.

To find it, go to the centre of the village where, at a cross roads, there’s a couple of shops. Turn to the north; the first, almost immediate, left turn goes into a parking area – we asked directions here – and were told to take the second left instead, and follow the road round. The tomb is signposted from here, with modern development all around. Look for the pink neon hotel sign to help you locate it, if lost.

The grasscutters were out with strimmers in the village, but hadn’t reached the site yet, so we were waist deep in grass at many points.

The tomb is sizeable – approx 17m long and 12m wide; there’s no stele, but the corridor has two side niches opposite each other, a feature that we’d only seen at Lassia nearby. There’s a bench along the front of the esedra, and the walls of the corridor angle in towards each other.

The esedra in particular is easy to see is of double walled construction, with the cavity filled with smaller stones, rubble and earth.

Nuraghe Loelle is at a cross roads; diagonally opposite it, right up against the (minor) road, you’ll find the first tomba di gigante associated with the settlement here.

It’s a tiny little one! Yet impressive. The esedra consists now of 5 stones, pale at the bottom and grey at the top, with a distinct bench along the front as we’d seen at many of sites.

The corridor leads back towards the road, its inner edges well defined but the outer part of the tomb only really visible on its right hand side.