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The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map : Index >>
Stones Forum >> Firecracked stones?
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Firecracked stones? |
PeterSmith
Joined:
11-04-2007
Messages: 49
from Shipley, West Yorkshire
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|  Posted 04-09-2007 at 17:36
I am puzzled by the expression "Firecracked Stones" in the context of the Rotherwas Ribbon story http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=17076
To firecrack this volume of stone is an industrial undertaking requiring very high temperatures and a great deal of effort.
Anyone know why this would be done? Also, how they managed to acheive the very high temperatures needed to crack stone?
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cropredy
Joined:
01-01-2006
Messages: 5547
from Oxon
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| Posted 04-09-2007 at 18:15
Petersmith,
I would suggest you look through the forum for discussions about vitrified forts, the same questions arise.
I have electrical thoughts, but not up here in the rarified surface zone.
Better to discuss any such things underground , as they are obnoxiously going to place those stones you mention, under tarmac and lorries.
Kevin
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bat400
Joined:
10-04-2006
Messages: 1332
from South Central Indiana, US
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| Posted 04-09-2007 at 21:35
I'm not up on what kind of stones make up the Rotherwas ribbon, nor does our listing seem to say whether the stones were "fire cracked" before or after they were taken from the hillside, or before or after they were laid in the pavement. I am inferring that the stone was quarried (or collected), then cracked, and them placed in the pavement. (But that may not be right.)
Large amounts of "firecracked" stones are found at North American pre-contact campsites as a by product of rendering fat and marrow. Piles of fire cracked rock are found near Plains game jumps where stones were heated and then added to containers of water and bone and fat to boil the contents. They are also found in the Pacific NorthWest as part of "Calla bulb ovens" and similar cookers are found in Texas where they were used to cook masses of starchy bulbs to preserve them
They are found in smaller quantity at most camps and settlements. In the US, archaeologists call them "FCR". They aren't uncommon. Depending on the rock it doesn't even take a very hot fire.
Vitrified forts (that Kevin speaks of) are another thing - where the rock appears to be "glazed" or "melted" into a solid masses. "Google" on vitrified stone and you'll get lots of interesting and exotic speculation about energy sources.
One is a mystery, they other, not very. For Rotherwas, I think the interesting thing would be why they used FCR? To make a nice flat surface?
[ This message was edited by: bat400 on 2007-09-04 21:39 ]
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cropredy
Joined:
01-01-2006
Messages: 5547
from Oxon
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| Posted 04-09-2007 at 22:00
Bat400,
Read through this, and honestly tell me that they have any idea at all?
http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/pls/portal/newcanmore.newcandig_details_gis?inumlink=30660
Kevin
[ This message was edited by: cropredy on 2007-09-04 22:05 ]
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PeterSmith
Joined:
11-04-2007
Messages: 49
from Shipley, West Yorkshire
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| Posted 04-09-2007 at 23:23
Thanks chaps. I guess it was a tad naive of me to imagine that little nugget is going to come out on such a public forum.
Must go, I don't want to get locked in this cellar overnight.
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bat400
Joined:
10-04-2006
Messages: 1332
from South Central Indiana, US
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| Posted 05-09-2007 at 14:09
Kevin, no argument from me on this - "vitrification" appears to stay in the realm of mystery. I was only trying to point out that a FCR is not necessarily vitrified. (I've got a layer of FCR at the base of our camp fire pit out back.)
I'd be interested in knowing which has been found at Rotherwas - merely fire cracked rocks or actually something hot enough to become vitrified.
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cropredy
Joined:
01-01-2006
Messages: 5547
from Oxon
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| Posted 05-09-2007 at 15:03
Bat400,
If I can make time, I am going to that site to wander about, it doesn't matter to me if they bury it or not.
I want to find the ends, I consider I will.
Kevin
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BERNARDQUATERMASS
Joined:
19-03-2006
Messages: 653
from Oldham, Lancashire
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|  Posted 05-09-2007 at 15:43
Kevin.................I get the impression that the ribbon is a bit like this shape:
http://www.sacraesymphoniae.co.uk/Images/logo.gif
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