27 replies to this topic

[kevin.b]

Shiny,
         That is the obvious way to view the stones, especially relative to our present understandings.
But WHY?
Why would they drag massive stones all over the globe, nothing else to do?

Kevin

[shiny]

Nobody knows why, but they did 'cos they're here.

[Diego]

Please gentlemen stick to the topic. If you'd like to discuss about hidden energies and miraculous powers of weird substances, this is the wrong section of the forum. Consider this as an early warning.

Thanks for your understanding.

[kevin.b]

Descending back into my hobbit hole as you read this .
kevin

[stonecarver]

I've been thinking a lot about the unusual 'clay floor-covering' at Maes Howe.... and I wonder if it was possibly a result of people using the burial chamber after it was broken into. The Vikings (possibly several Viking groups at different times) apparently stayed there (maybe during the winter)... and the clay-floor could be a result of them traipsing muddy boots in and out... Just a thought...

I'll have to go to read the original excavation reports...

[shiny]

Diego......Sorry for digressing, It's them Hobbitses.


When you get inside Maes Howe the floor is several inches thick with gravel, but is only up to the level of the entrance  passageway.
Whether the clay floor was removed or is buried under the gravel I don't know. If it's still there it meant a step down onto it , which would have allowed puddling if the stonework wasn't watertight.
The four walls are superbly built, tapering up to almost a point, then capped.
There are thin slices of stone between the edges of the  big stones, maybe this slanted the stones enough to cause rain water to run off.

[shiny]

Over this summer,  the ditch surrounding Maes Howe filled up with water. I was wondering how long it took to empty again, assuming it did.

If the clay flooring of the Howe ever extended as far as the ditch, the water filled ring would have made the place an awesome sight.

I've been looking for photos bu t can't find any.


PS.    Will there be webcams here at winter solstice, as in previous years??

[Jose Antonio]

I find it very interesting throughout.


Jose Antonio from Badajoz-Spain


I find it very interesting throughout.

[FourWinds]

stonecarver, on 6 February 2007, 12:44, said:

A single fragment of human skull was found amognst 'debris' in one of the cells in the nineteenth century excavations, according to the books I have which mention the contents...

The clay floor is indeed unusual.

A great many Irish monuments have been found to be built on a clay floor. Some of these, such as that under Listoghil at Carrowmore were hundreds of years older than the tomb itself. This particular one had been used as a cremation platform over a long period before finally being covered by the cist & cairn.

A lot of court tombs have clay floors inside the court and often in the gallery. Sometimes flags were laid on top of these compacted clay floors.

The whole of the inside of Grange Lios stone circle was covered with a compacted clay floor, as was Drombeg (I believe).

Outside the front of Newgrange there is a large crescent of compacted yellow clay, which is foreign to the region.

Clay seemed to have been quite important to some groups of megalith builders. It was also important to house builders, too, because it simply makes a good floor. So, it may not wise to read much into its use in tombs. Sometimes the simple and obvious answer is the best.

[shiny]

Clay flooring outside and open to the elements??

[shiny]

To answer my own question....................Re: Maes Howe....................


" Will there be web cams here at winter solstice as in previous years?? ".



http://www.maeshowe.co.uk/index.html

[kevin.b]

Fourwinds,
             Look into what clay can do.
Especially montmorillonite, or bentonite.
Its electric, I am positive and negative about this.
The devil is in the detail, the detail is under your feet.
http://www.experienc...te clay/id/2064
kevin

[FourWinds]

shiny, on 24 October 2007, 14:13, said:

Clay flooring outside and open to the elements??

It surprised me, too. Unfortunately, not many of the reports mention if the clay was baked in any way, but I assume this is not an omission, but due to the fact that none of them were baked. They are pretty much all recorded as 'compacted clay floors', though.