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Unless otherwise stated, this image is the copyright of the submitter. Contact them for permission to reproduce it. |  | | Description | Y Gaer, Ystum Gwadnaeth
Broad Class of Site: Defence
Type of Site: HILLFORT
NPRN: 303120
Period: Iron Age
This appears to be an Iron Age C / Romano British Hill Fort.
The holes that you see on the photograph run across almost the entire hilltop for approx. 20m. They are fairly uniform in their spacing and depth (5 inches) Some appear to feint traces of what may be iron oxide.
The hole run roughly NE to SW across the hilltop effectively isolating one corner of it.
The "shepherds crook" formation is at the NE end of the line of the holes and is at point approx. 300mm higher than the opposite end of the row. |
| Posted Comments: ExpatPete
(2006-06-21) | A possible/probable explanation for the holes in the rock is that they are blasting holes predrilled / marked and not used.
With many years experience in mining and blasting I have seen / and used the "Shepherds Crook" pattern at the end of a bench to terminate the split.
You start off with marker holes to determine the blast pattern and then when that is decided you open the holes to a couple of inches and up to 3 ft deep.
The presence of an old dismantled railway and the Pontsticll Reservoir and dam near the site - both of which would require a lot of stone! are further pointers.
At the time that both were built mid/late 1800's - early 1900's the standard way of drilling shot holes was to use an iron drill or "jumper" held by one man while one or two more whacked it with a sledge hammer ( Right lad! when I nod my head you hit it ! ouch!)
Old joke but still makes me laugh!
The traces of iron oxide are probably where the jumper has been worn away and left filings/ bits - in the hole
Hope I can be proved wrong!
Pete
[ Reply to This ] | binardino
(2006-06-22) | i think you're right pete , you find the same kind of hole in morbihan on few menhir and dolmen stones, a work not finished before cutting stones by neolithic people. |
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