User:MartinP991

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Garn Goch[edit]

The established view is that Garn Goch is notable for its twinned Iron Age hillforts, together the largest in southern Wales,[1] but just as it has taken almost 100 years[2] for Waun Mawn[3] to be recognised by leading archaeologists[4] and the BBC[5] as a significant and unique Neolithic monument, the 'original' Stonehenge,[6] it has taken almost 50 years for the view to be challenged that Garn Goch is merely one of almost 700 Iron Age forts in Wales[7].

An Iron Age Fort?[edit]

Three types if Iron Age forts were built in Wales: promontory forts using coastal cliffs to protect three sides of the fort (often more accurately described as defended enclosures);[8] earthwork forts on the top of steep sided hills with concentric rings of defensive ditches and banks;[9] large stone forts including revetted walls typically 3 metres high by 2 metres wide, and always with ramparts on top.[10] While Garn Goch fits into none of these categories, the received view has been that Garn Goch is an Iron Age hillfort because of one report nearly 50 years ago.

AHA Hogg's Iron Age Hillfort Report[edit]

The Iron Age fort interpretation derives from a brief report[11] in Archaeologica Cambrensis nearly 50 years ago[12] by AHA Hogg, then at the end of a long career[13] that had resulted in him being regarded as the foremost authority on Welsh Iron Age hillforts.[14] He says he will undertake no excavation, and concentrate on 'detailed factual descriptions',[15] yet then admits his descriptions are 'only rough'.[16] With impressive honesty, he admits to features being 'puzzling', and uses phrases like 'The writer inclines to the view that...'[17] as well as admitting to there being several 'anomalies'.[18] The verifiability of some of his conclusions can be called into question because he himself calls them into question, and admits 'proof is impossible'.[19] Specifically:

1.    He assumed, so neither questioned nor proved, that Garn Goch was a 'fort', yet Tre'r Ceiri, where his ongoing excavations had made his reputation decades before, has 'a formidable single rampart which still stands up to 4m high in places. Where nearly intact, the top of the rampart still has its parapet walk reached via a number of sloping ramps from the interior.'[20] Similarly, the ramparts of the nearby Garn Boduan Iron Age hillfort,[21] yet Garn Goch offers no such evidence. Simple observation of the number of stones, and the absence of any evidence of revetted walls, argues compellingly that there never were revetted walls, so cannot be, as Hogg describes them, 'very ruinous'.[22]

2.    Tre'r Ceiri had 8 posterns, and Hogg stated that Garn Goch has 6 posterns (and Coflein copies this[23]), which he described as 'ruinous',[24] yet there is only evidence of one postern. It is far from ruinous, and is a narrow gateway - an access point rather than the cleverly constructed defensive fortification posterns seen at Tre'r Ceiri.[25] Strictly, it cannot be termed a postern because it does not resemble 'a secondary door or gate in a fortification...often located in a concealed location which allowed the occupants to come and go inconspicuously'.[26] It is not at all concealed, and there are no signs of gate posts, nor holes for gates hinges,[27] so could not have been part of defensive arrangements.

3.    Hogg argues that the wide entrances east and west are a 'double portal' and 'gateway', although he admits there is no evidence, and that 'proof is impossible'.[28] While such wide entrances are entirely inconsistent with a fort, they are entirely consistent with a Neolithic causewayed enclosure, especially as the entrances are north, south, east and west.[29] Forts want to keep people out, so have restricted entrances. Causewayed enclosures wanted to welcome people in, so have 4 or more wide entrances - as Garn Goch does.

4.    He admitted he could not date anything on Garn Goch with any confidence, and openly stated that there are 'very tenuous features',[30] yet still claimed that it as an Iron Age fort.

5.    He focused on foundations which he hazarded might be Iron Age, Neolithic or, he said, may be mediaeval.[31] Is it reasonable to expect an archaeologist of his renown to know whether something is 600 years old or 6,000 years old? Does this encourage us to trust his knowledge and his judgement without question?

6.    He concluded that some stone foundations are of a round house, yet observation clearly shows that they lie about a metre below the level of the post-glacial pond,[32] now bog, and that an outflow stream runs through the foundations. It is clearly an elongated oval, not round at all, and would make much more sense as a pool constructed for ceremonial purposes (such as baptisms and votive offerings).

7.    He dismissively describes the main long cairn as 'a mass of rubble' and 'completely ruinous' because it shows 'no trace of revetment'.[33] This seems to be an extraordinarily desperate attempt to claim that the long cairn as an Iron Age building, yet he then guesses the cairn must be Neolithic or Bronze Age.[34] His conclusion is that it is 'anomalous',[35] yet at a Neolithic site such a large cairn is the very opposite of 'anomalous'.

8.    Of the second most dominant feature of the site, its lines of stones, he said 'there are short lines of small boulders deliberately placed', but then said they don't 'fall into any defined pattern', so left them 'unsurveyed'.[36] If there was one thing to be properly surveyed, and explained, surely it was these stones? Observation shows the individual stones were not, indeed, 'deliberately placed', but very much do 'fall into...[a] defined pattern' as their location and precise mathematical position testify. As to 'short lines', they run for 1.7 kms.[37]

9.    Of four metre long, 0.8m high mounds, he suggested they were 'intended to encourage the growth of rabbits'.[38]  A conclusion needing no further comment.

10. He concluded that it is 'unlikely' the two forts were 'occupied at the same time',[39] but then concludes they were 'roughly contemporary'.[40]

One example of how the Hogg interpretation has continued to be perpetuated is the Archwilio entry for Garn Goch[41] which repeats verbatim three of Hogg's points before valiantly talking of 'gateways', six 'posterns' (her speech marks) when there is evidence of only one, medieval foundations when there is absolutely no evidence they are medieval, and 'ramparts' when there is absolutely no evidence that there was anything more, even at the western ends, than piled stones. Other authorities, including Cadw and Coflein, have also continued to repeat Hogg's opinion without, seemingly, questioning it.[42]

In the last 50 years, no archaeological investigation has taken place, yet that is understandable if Garn Goch is believed to be merely one of almost 700 Welsh Iron Age hillforts, and that Brecon Beacons National Park, its current managers, have done their best to promote it as such.[43]

Garn Goch: Neolithic Monument[edit]

There are three defining factors of Neolithic monument building: religious motivation, communal execution, and scale. Consequently, there are also three things they didn't build: defensive structures, ceremonial buildings, complex buildings (with one major exception). However, over about 1,500 years, they built monuments with some relevance to Garn Goch including oval mortuary enclosures[44], ring cairns,[45] stone and timber circles,[46] and cursuses[47] However, even more relevantly they built:

Causewayed Enclosures: built on easily accessible, flat hill tops, oval or circular earthworks typically 200+ metres in diameter with spectator banks surrounded by religiously significant ditches (delineating life from death), and featuring wide tracks (causeways) leading to four large entrances.[48] They can be thought of as being like sports stadia, not least because nobody lived in them.

Henges: evolved out of causewayed enclosures, and then into massive super-henges like Durrington Walls, Avebury and Mount Pleasant, which have diameters upto 480 metres (the width of 7 football pitches).[49]

Long Barrows & Long Cairns: long barrows (earth) and long cairns (stones) upto 300 feet long with a burial chamber inside. Garn Goch is a westerly example of the chain of Neolithic long cairns that link it with Penywyrlod, near Talgarth, and Ty Isaf in Wales, and the numerous long cairns in the Cotswold-Severn group centred on Hazleton.[50]

While Garn Goch exhibits few, if any, characteristics of an Iron Age fort, it shares significant characteristics with many of these Neolithic monuments, not least long cairns, causewayed enclosures (the most obvious design origin), henges and super-henges (being as large as them).[51]

While a long cairn such as Garn Goch would have required no more than 6,000 hours (for example, 100 people working 6 hours a day for 10 days), archaeologists have reckoned that Silbury Hill would have taken 18 million man-hours, and Stonehenge 30 million.[52] In that context, the cairn and surrounding stones at Garn Goch are a minor achievement, and well within Neolithic monument building parameters.

However, given its scale, Garn Goch must have been a major pilgrimage destination, and that can be seen in the context of Professor Parker Pearson's statement that there is 'no doubt that [Pembrokeshire] was one of the great religious and political centres of Neolithic Britain'.[53] When Waun Mawn was built, it was the largest stone circle in Britain,[54] so would have been a major pilgrimage attraction. Consequently, Garn Goch can be seen not as an outlier, but directly on the ridgeway 'camino' from the more heavily populated south east[55] to the major early Neolithic religious sites at, and around, Waun Mawn.

Dating Garn Goch[edit]

Neolithic monuments are dated to between 6,000 and 4,500 years ago,[56] but we can be more precise about Garn Goch. From the recent irrefutable DNA evidence of the human bones interred under the Penywyrlod long cairn (just 36 miles away), we know that people born and brought up in Brittany were migrating to this region to farm it 5,700 years ago, give or take upto 70 years.[57] As Garn Goch's long cairn is similar in size, shape and scale, it is reasonable to also date it to around 5,700 years ago, or perhaps 100 years later, and that makes Garn Goch older than Stonehenge.[58]  It is also reasonable to assume that it too has human bones underneath it ready to be excavated, which would definitively confirm or disprove such dating. Why Garn Goch has not been archaeologically excavated when English long cairns and Penywyrlod in the same group have been since the 1970s is something only Dyfed Archaeological Trust and Cadw can explain.

Garn Goch Tomorrow[edit]

If Garn Goch is a major Iron Age fort, then this needs to be proved by being academically examined, technologically explored, and archaeologically excavated.

If Garn Goch is not merely another Iron Age fort, and was a major Neolithic monument, then it is even more important that it is academically examined, technologically explored, and archaeologically excavated.

A Community Interest Company Limited By Guarantee, Garn Goch CIC, has been created to promote and facilitate such initiatives as well as support local good causes. It has also created a dedicated website - garngoch.org - with much more information. There is also a 160 page book available via the website.

  1. ^ "Y Garn Goch", Wikipedia, 2021-12-23, retrieved 2022-01-26
  2. ^ The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions in Wales and Monmouthshire (1925). An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire. Volume VII. County of Pembroke. London: HMSO.
  3. ^ "Waun Mawn", Wikipedia, 2022-01-11, retrieved 2022-01-26
  4. ^ Parker Pearson et al, Mike (February 2021). ""The original Stonehenge? A dismantled stone circle in the Preseli Hills of west Wales"". Antiquity. 95 (379): 85–103 – via JSTOR.
  5. ^ "BBC Two - Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed". web.archive.org. 2021-02-12. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
  6. ^ "Stonehenge: Did the stone circle originally stand in Wales?". BBC News. 2021-02-12. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
  7. ^ The authoritative 5 year survey published in 2018 by Oxford University (G Lock & I Ralston, 2017: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk) says there are 4,147 hillforts in Britain, many of which are in Scotland and its borders, but Wales has 687, a disproportionately large number for its size.
  8. ^ 2 out of 3 Iron Age forts in Pembrokeshire were coastal promontory forts. Use the map at https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk to see how ubiquitous they are on the coasts of Britain, and particularly Wales.
  9. ^ https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
  10. ^ Two of the best examples of large stone forts in Wales are Garn Boduan (https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/95271?term=garn%20boduan) and Tre'r Ceiri (https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/95292?term=tre%27r%20ceiri).
  11. ^ 11 pages when the preceding article on Rhos-y-Clegyrn Prehistoric Site runs to 30 pages, and the next article on the north east gate of Segontium runs to 24 pages.
  12. ^ Hogg, AHA (1974). "Carn Goch Carmarthenshire". Archaeologica Cambrensis. 123: 43–53 – via The National Library of Wales.
  13. ^ His first published work was in 1930, 44 years earlier.
  14. ^ His numerous published works are almost entirely on Welsh hillforts: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/personDetails.xhtml?personId=21008
  15. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.43
  16. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.49
  17. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.50
  18. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.44
  19. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.51.
  20. ^ "English". Coflein. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
  21. ^ "English". Coflein. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
  22. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.50
  23. ^ "English". Coflein. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
  24. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.52
  25. ^ "English". Coflein. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
  26. ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postern. Numerous dictionaries researched do not provide such a good definition.
  27. ^ As he himself admits: Hogg, 1974, p.51
  28. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.51
  29. ^ Causewayed enclosures were typically built by 'regularly scheduled large-scale aggregations of people' on easily accessible, flat hill tops. They were oval or round, often about 200 metres in diameter, and made with an earth bank surrounded by a series of ditches, but, crucially, they had four causeways, or tracks, straight through them, confirming that they had a religious rather than military purpose. A. Whittle et al, Gathering Time: Dating The Early Neolithic Enclosures Of Southern Britain, (Oxbow Books, 2011), Abstract. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/32256/
  30. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.45
  31. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.46
  32. ^ A 40m by 15m pond as recently as 1906. Hogg, 1974, p.48
  33. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.44
  34. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.44
  35. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.44
  36. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.45
  37. ^ Google Maps measurement tool.
  38. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.45
  39. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.53
  40. ^ Hogg, 1974, p.53
  41. ^ Murphy, Fran (2008). "Garn Goch". Archwilio.
  42. ^ Three varied examples: 'The remains of two hillforts probably dating to the Iron Age period', Cadw. http://cadwpublic-api.azurewebsites.net/reports/sam/FullReport?lang=en&id=2757 'Best regarded as a later Prehistoric type hillfort', Coflein. https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/100866/ 'The biggest hill fort in South East Wales', The Modern Antiquarian. https://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/2103/carn_goch_hill_fort.html
  43. ^ https://www.beacons-npa.gov.uk/planning/heritage2/heritage-hotspots/garn-goch/
  44. ^ Typically 50 by 20 metres, often with long barrows or cairns inside them. D Buckley et al, Excavation of a Possible Neolithic....Mortuary Enclosure at Rivenhall, Essex, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, Volume 54, 1988.
  45. ^ 15 in south Wales. Typically 8 to 20 metres in diameter, and located next to water. AH Ward, Survey and Excavation of Ring Cairns in SE Dyfed and on Gower, West Glamorgan, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, Volume 54, 1988, pp.153-172. This could be a description of Garn Goch: 'A stony ring enclosing an open central area...[featuring] tumbled stones...on ridges dominated by higher ground...an E-W axis...built for public performance of ceremonial [with] suitability for arenas...connected with mortuary ritual...[but also with] wider social and economic... use'. Ward, 1988, p.153.
  46. ^ At Walton in Powys, a massive timber palisaded enclosure was 800 metres in diameter, and required 10 hectares of forest to be felled. https://www.jna.uni-kiel.de/index.php/jna/article/view/72/73.
  47. ^ The Dorset Cursus, for example, runs for six miles. https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=1377
  48. ^ Harding, J (1995). "Social Histories and Regional Perspectives in the Neolithic of Lowland England'". Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. 61 – via JSTOR.
  49. ^ Durrington Walls is one of the largest known henges with a diameter of nearly 480 metres. https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.5.029183/full/
  50. ^ Saville, Alan (2013). Hazleton North: The excavations of a Neolithic long cairn of the Cotswold Severn Group. Swindon: English Heritage, Issue 13 of Archaeological Reports. ISBN 9781848021617.
  51. ^ A 480 metre diameter (as at Durrington Walls) results in 18 hectare area. Garn Goch with its northern extension is about 19 hectares.
  52. ^ Startin et al, B (1981). "Some Notes On Work Organization And Society In Pre-historic Wessex". British Archaeological Reports. 59: 9–11 – via JSTOR.
  53. ^ https://www.bluestonebrewing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Waun-Mawn-2018-interim-report-lite.pdf P.14. No longer available at this URL.
  54. ^ https://www.bluestonebrewing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Waun-Mawn-2018-interim-report-lite.pdf Pp.2-14. No longer available at this URL.
  55. ^ Bevan et al, A (2017). "Holocene Fluctuations In Human Population Demonstrate Repeated Links To Food Production And Climate'". PNAS. December 2017: E10524–E10531.
  56. ^ S Downey et al, 'European Neolithic Societies Showed Early Warning Signals of Population Collapse.' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 113, no. 35, 2016. A Timpson et al, 'Reconstructing regional population fluctuations in the European Neolithic using radiocarbon dates: a new case-study using an improved method'. Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 52, December 2014.
  57. ^ 'Radiocarbon...suggests that agriculture first began to develop in this region...between [5,765 and 5,655 years ago with a] 95% probability', and that the teeth of some of the first Neolithic farmers, who were brought up in Brittany and buried in Talgarth, date similarly - 5,770 to 5,630 years ago. The authors of the journal article assume the contemporaneity of the cairn and the teeth, which would date the cairn to about 5,700 years ago. S. Neil et al, 'Land use and mobility during the Neolithic in Wales explored using isotope analysis of tooth enamel ', American Journal of Physical Anthropology (July 2017). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajpa.23279
  58. ^ The central construction we call Stonehenge was built less than 5,000 years ago. 'The age of Stonehenge', Parker Pearson et al, Antiquity, 02 January 2015. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/age-of-stonehenge/9E5F246F9E76739D6BF5E0758B462481
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:MartinP991&oldid=1069225244"