A recent excavation programme at a standing stone known as Trefael, near Newport in southwest Wales has revealed at least two unique episodes in its early history; firstly as a portal dolmen and secondly as a standing stone, probably used as a ritual marker to guide communities through a sacred landscape.
This solitary stone, standing in a wind-swept field has been designated a Scheduled Monument and has over 75 cupmarks gouged onto its upper surface. Following the complete exposure of the capstone through excavation, it is now considered by several astronomers that the distribution of the cupmarks may represent a section of the night sky that includes the star constellations of Cassiopeia, Orion, Sirius and of course the North Star.
Until recently, little was known about this stone. During the early 1970s archaeologists had speculated that it may have once formed a capstone which would have covered a small burial chamber. In order to prove or disprove this, a geophysical survey was undertaken, the results of which revealed the remains of a kidney-shaped anomaly, possibly the remnants of the cairn that would have once surrounded the chamber. The shape of this anomaly suggested that an entrance to a chamber was to the east (not untypical of monuments of this type).
Following this exciting discovery a targeted excavation in typically Welsh November weather confirmed the site to be a portal dolmen, one of the earliest burial-ritual monument types in Western Britain. The excavation revealed a significant cairn deposit within the eastern and northern sections of the trench. Uniquely, a clear vertical cut was found in section, running parallel with the dip of the former capstone suggesting that the cairn had been excavated into and the capstone set and packed within the existing cairn, probably used as a standing stone during the Early Bronze Age (c. 2000-1700 cal. BCE) when Western Britain was introduced to a new set of burial-ritual monuments. Finds were not unexpectedly meagre that included medieval and post-medieval pottery sherds and two Mesolithic shale beads; identical to those found at the nearby Mesolithic coastal settlement of Nab Head.
Further investigations are planned for the summer of 2011 that will include palaeoenvironmental sampling in order to assess the later prehistoric landscape setting, a contour survey of the monument and further excavation to the rear of the stone; hopefully in untypical Welsh weather conditions!
http://www.pasthorizons.com/index.php/archives/11/2010/standing-stone-cup-marks-may-represent-star-constellations
Submitted by coldrum.
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road