Definitely a favourite. Carreg Samson, just says "you think I can't do this?" That heavy capstone must have taken some engineering to get it atop the orthostats. Was it a top down or bottom up build I wonder. There is a grace as to how the vertical stones lean. This monster lives in a field, a fairly long walk down the drive to the farm and then you spy it in the field. I remember Bucky and Loie coming with us and Bucky looking for more stones. But look at the solid stone and green hedge behind and you will see large stones also in the wall. Intriguing, what has been lost here I wonder.
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| Carreg Samson |
Above this sea stands one cromlech, Samson Carreg facing the curving coastline, the ground is not high, softly sloping to the small bay beneath and the tiny island offset against the beach. Was this the reason the burial mound was placed here? It is an elegant statement of large standing stones that balance a chunky capstone. Julian Cope says of its stones that they are shot through with amber quartzite, it has become sculptured on the landscape like an "ancient stone rhinoceros, caught mid-charge in one instant and destined to remain here forever". From an old blog.
Dear Moss my companion for many years on these forays into prehistory. He looked after me and I shall never forget one time in an enclosure with a ruined chapel. There was a couple in there and Moss seemed to go up and bite the man's bottom. Profuse apologies from me, but the man said don't worry he was only protecting you. Moss loved these holidays in Wales.
Saint Samson gave his names to a lot of prehistoric places and this 2009 blog gives some of them.
Dad raised a large boulder a bit at a time. He levered one side at a time with a crowbar and had flattish stones ready to push underneath.
ReplyDeleteThat was probably one of the methods used Nelliegrace. We solve problems as we meet them.
DeleteAmazing to see!
ReplyDeleteIt has been around a long time Ellen.
DeleteThanks for sharing. Your posts lead me down rabbit holes of knowledge. Cali
ReplyDeleteIt needs a whole life time to understand, or even beginning to understand our history Cali. But it is traced in the ground by archaeology.
DeleteJust an amazing feat of engineering to get the capstone atop the others. No mean task. That is something that seems as if it would have taken many months (minimally) to assemble. So, my question becomes: were the monuments built prior to the death or after? Were they a vanity project of a man who had the power to make people do his bidding? Or were they a monument to a beloved and important person, built to honor. So many questions.
ReplyDeleteI think actually the people came together in big feasts and brute strength was used to move the stones. There is often evidence of feasting near the big sites, and it would go well with trading and meeting up with other tribes round the country Debby.
ReplyDeleteMy mistake was thinking that they were tombs for one person. Reading about them, it seems that they were a burial site for as well as a gathering place. What a lot I am learning.
ReplyDeleteAlso Debby being Neolithic they were also seen as sacred places through the later Bronze Age.
DeleteHave you seen the tiny muntjac deer spar with a rhinoceros in a Polish zoo Steve....
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlGiP6gIai0