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1,000 kg megalith discovered in East Dorset Stone Circle Dorset

Submitted by BigBear on Sunday, 04 May 2008  Page Views: 27272

Neolithic and Bronze Age

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Country: England County: Dorset Type: Stone Circle

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The Bearstone
The Bearstone submitted by BigBear : 1,000 kg megalith discovered at Bear Mead, Dorset SY986993 (Vote or comment on this photo)
I've just discovered a 1,000 kg toppled megalith on my land in East Dorset and christened it 'The Bearstone' after its location at Bear Mead.

What do I do next?
I've cleared the vegetation, dug down all round to get the exact dimensions, calculated volume and weight, taken photos and put details and photos on a webpage at Monolith at Bear Mead Trapped under the stone is a good length of thick single strand wire, used in the surrounding fields for fencing for the Inclosures Act 1815. This may indicate when the stone toppled. An OS map dated 1885-1902 shows a circle of 5 stones 600 metres to the NE, unfortunately now vanished. Could the Bearstone have been a pointer for the winter solstice sunset for this circle? The stone is fine limestone, nearest source Purbeck 23 kms South. It could have been brought all the way by water via Christchurch Harbour and the River Stour to within 30 metres of where it now lies. A very similar megalith of half the weight lies 600 metres to the North and is known as the Moonstone. Both megaliths are visible from the stone circle because of the flatness of the floodplain (barring a few trees).
So my appeal to my expert readers is:
What should I do next?

See the site's page for additional information: The Bearstone.
Contributor Bio for BigBear: Based in East Dorset, contributing since 2008. Occupation: Retired.

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"1,000 kg megalith discovered in East Dorset" | Login/Create an Account | 7 News and Comments
  
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Re: 1,000 kg megalith discovered in East Dorset by Anonymous on Thursday, 30 December 2010
The two drilled holes would suggest that it has been a gatepost.
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Re: 1,000 kg megalith discovered in East Dorset by cerrig on Thursday, 30 December 2010
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http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/11142/kilfinan.html
An uncanny resemblance between these 2.
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Re: 1,000 kg megalith discovered in East Dorset by Anonymous on Monday, 12 May 2008
Please get in touch with your local County Archaeologist. As a landowner messing with antiquities is dodgy business but if you inform the local County Archaeologist then they will advise you the best way to deal with your find.

Though the fact that it isn't 'in situ' (as attested by the wire) may mean that your find isn't so much a megalith but a mere stone. Whether it was once a megalith is difficult to prove once moved. Do you know that the gold you wear may have been part of Cleopatra's earings or Alexander the Great's crown? But you can't prove it cos it has no provinence.

Sorry to be a killjoy but if I got excited about every large stone I found I would be on sedatives. I'm a field archaeologist and I'm pretty sure if you put an archaeologist on sedatives you have to call the coroner!

Good luck though. I hope you found something. The best way to find out is to contact your local County Archaeologist.

He/She should be able to tell you if you have a significant part of something significant or....if you have found a stone.

Please don't trust anyone who contacts you through this site and claims they can date it for you. If they were able to do that by looking at a photo they would be the most sought after archaeologist in Britain. If they had that position they wouldn't be replying to your email as they would be to busy.

Obviously I'm not that busy but I hope I've been of some help!

MYM
[ Reply to This ]

Re: 1,000 kg megalith discovered in East Dorset by Anonymous on Monday, 12 May 2008
Please get in touch with your local County Archaeologist. As a landowner messing with antiquities is dodgy business but if you inform the local County Archaeologist then they will advise you the best way to deal with your find.

Though the fact that it isn't 'in situ' (as attested by the wire) may mean that your find isn't so much a megalith but a mere stone. Whether it was once a megalith is difficult to prove once moved. Do you know that the gold you wear may have been part of Cleopatra's earings or Alexander the Great's crown? But you can't prove it cos it has no provinence.

Sorry to be a killjoy but if I got excited about every large stone I found I would be on sedatives. I'm a field archaeologist and I'm pretty sure if you put an archaeologist on sedatives you have to call the coroner!

Good luck though. I hope you found something. The best way to find out is to contact your local County Archaeologist.

He/She should be able to tell you if you have a significant part of something significant or....if you have found a stone.

Please don't trust anyone who contacts you through this site and claims they can date it for you. If they were able to do that by looking at a photo they would be the most sought after archaeologist in Britain. If they had that position they wouldn't be replying to your email as they would be to busy.

Obviously I'm not that busy but I hope I've been of some help!

MYM
[ Reply to This ]

Re: 1,000 kg megalith discovered in East Dorset by Anonymous on Tuesday, 06 May 2008
Contact your county archaeologist and DO NOT dig any more!
Never dig if you think you have found archaeological objects or sites - tell the archaeologists and let them deal with it properly. Any unprofessional digging, however well intentioned, may destroy archaeolgical evidence irrevocably. well spotted on the stone though it looks like a contender.
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Re: 1,000 kg megalith discovered in East Dorset by Anonymous on Tuesday, 06 May 2008
There's no rush. As the stone dries out the moss will detach and you will have a better chance of identifying a 'soil line'. If the stone has been upright then the portion of the buried part will be a different colour to the rest of the stone - often it'll seem bleached compared to the rest. The two large 'cupmarks' are interesting and will need to be checked to see whether they are natural or carved. It's not impossible that such a stone could have been set on its back. It's perhaps been pulled out of the field by a machine when such a machine showed up. It could have been in the steam era! There will be other stones about or evidence of stone breaking. Sometimes very old large scale maps will show the historical layout of the rocks.
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Re: 1,000 kg megalith discovered in East Dorset by hailstones on Monday, 05 May 2008
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Hi BigBear. I would get in touch with Martin Green at Down Farm near Knowlton Henges. He has a magnificent array of artefacts housed in a long shed museum! he also has a carved megalithic stone there. The other one is being studied by Richard Bradley at the moment. Publication due soon?
Martin is a very friendly archaeologist and I'm sure he can help
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