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According to “Irish Metal Detecting” on Twitter…..
A public debate on the uk Portable Antiquities Scheme at a venue in blanchardstown crowne plaza was rearranged due to intimidation of guest speakers from the uk. The debate arranged by the Irish Metal Detecting Society was open to the public and archaeologists and of course those who enjoy the hobby of metal detecting. While the debate was cancelled a number archaeologists decided to meet with Liam Nolan (event organizer) privately to express their concern at the cancellation of the debate and the reasons why it was cancelled. A number of politicians have also expressed concern at the cancellation and have agreed to look further into the matter.“
Well! If the “bullying” comprised the British Museum criticising its own employees and refusing to pay their air fares to Dublin, good!
If the “bullying” comprised the National Museum of Ireland taking offence at employees of the British Museum trying to influence Irish conservation policy, good!
And if anyone being accused of bullying had read our article last week asking “Why is PAS lobbying against Europe’s conservation laws” and thought that this question in particular had merit ……
“Why? Why is PAS promoting the British system abroad, despite having no mandate or funding or visible incentive to do so? Why are the French, Germans, Dutch, Spanish, Poles, Italians, Swedish and Irish being lobbied by a small British quango with an entirely parochial vested interest in praising artefact hunting at home? Why is it commending to others a system which is supported by detectorists in Britain only 30% of the time at best? Why on earth has PAS become part of a campaign run by detectorists to persuade two dozen sovereign European countries to rip up their laws on metal detecting?”
…. then good!
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Not all piles of stones are cairns and tombs. The image is of a 5,000 year old leopard trap, one of many built in Israel’s Negev Desert. In each case they were built near areas where sheep and goats were kept.
Today there are no more leopards left to hunt in the Negev desert. The last was seen one decade ago, and they are almost extinct in neighboring Jordan as well. On the other hand, there are leopards elsewhere. Luckily though the two Trump boys are heroically keeping them under control ….
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Why yowling moggy? Because a series of misrepresentations (16 so far) may suggest a concerted agenda.
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English Heritage has published 2 pictures titled THE SOLUTION suggesting how the Stonehenge Landscape could look “without the A303“….
But it’s a misrepresentation that pushes the term “blatant” to new levels. The landscape will NOT be “without the A303“ !! What is proposed is the building of a new A303, partly in a short tunnel but also in the form of brand new, massively damaging surface dual carriageways stretching about a mile, just about as long as the existing road shown above!
So suggesting the landscape would be without the A303 is yet another screeching moggy and it is the basis upon which Highways England say (in their current newletter) their plans will result in a “reduced impact on Stonehenge and the World Heritage Site“. No. Absolutely, categorically no.
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[To see the others put ‘Yowling’ in the search box.]
PAS’s mandate extends only to England and Wales yet it now cheerleading for the British system to be adopted elsewhere. For example: 1.) A film praising the PAS by Irish detectorists campaigning to legalise detecting in Ireland was narrated by someone sounding remarkably like PAS’s Dan Pett. [Mr Pett has now told us: “that video is nothing to do with me. I left PAS in May 2015“. We apologise to him.] 2.) PAS’s Dr Michael Lewis spoke at the inaugural meeting of the European Council for Metal Detecting (an organisation devoted to exporting the British system throughout Europe), where his contribution was hailed as “outstanding”. 3.) And now, (see The Searcher Magazine) we have PAS attending a public debate aimed at persuading Ireland to change its laws ….
Why? Why is PAS promoting the British system abroad, despite having no mandate or funding or visible incentive to do so? Why are the French, Germans, Dutch, Spanish, Poles, Italians, Swedish and Irish being lobbied by a small British quango with an entirely parochial vested interest in praising artefact hunting at home? Why is it commending to others a system which is supported by detectorists in Britain only 30% of the time at best? Why on earth has PAS become part of a campaign run by detectorists to persuade two dozen sovereign European countries to rip up their laws on metal detecting?
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A guest article supplied by Graham Salisbury
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“They are mystical stones, and of medicinal virtue. The giants of old brought them from the farthest coasts of Africa, and placed them in Ireland, while they inhabited that country.” (Geoffrey of Monmouth, The British History of, translated from the Latin by A. Thompson and J. A. Giles, James Bohn, London, 1842, p.158 [Bk 8, Ch. 11].)
I am indebted to Robert Temple for the bulk of the information contained in this article and the majority of the illustrations used appear on his website at http://www.egyptiandawn.info.
In a seldom visited and uninviting part of Morocco, not far from the Atlantic coast, away from major tourist attractions and decent roads lies a remarkable and enigmatic megalithic site.
Figure 1: Old Print of Mzora from 1830 by Arthur de Capell Brooke from http://www.egyptiandawn.info/chapter8.html
The Mzora stone ring (also spelled variously Msoura/Mezorah) is situated roughly 11km from the nearest town of Asilah and about 27km from the fascinating, overgrown ruins of ancient Lixus. It is not easy to reach and guide books to the area are of only very limited use (for a detailed discussion of its precise location including GPS co-ordinates see http://lostcities.weebly.com/1/post/2011/01/re-discovery-of-moroccan-megalithic-stone-circle.html). A small display in the archaeological museum at Tetouan is the most the majority of visitors see or hear of this extraordinary place.
Mzora is largely absent from the historical record but Plutarch, in the first century A.D., may have referred to Mzora in his Life of Sertorius. He describes the Roman General Quintus Sertorius being told by local inhabitants about a site they knew as the tomb of the giant Antaeus who had been killed by Hercules. There are many other ancient accounts that place the tomb of Antaeus in close proximity to both Lixus and Tangier and it is quite plausible that Mzora is the inspiration behind these stories. (Temple, Robert (2010). Egyptian Dawn. London: Century. P386-7).
The site itself is a Neolithic ellipse of 168 surviving stones of the 175 originally believed to have existed. The tallest of these stones is over 5m in height. The ellipse has a major axis of 59.29 metres and a minor axis of 56.18 metres. At the centre of the ring, and quite probably a much later addition, is a large tumulus (the tomb of Antaeus?). Not much remains of this tumulus today, the bulk of the damage to it seems to have been done by excavations undertaken in 1935-6 by César Luis de Montalban. It was he who cut across the mound in two intersecting trenches leaving the distinctive ‘X’ shaped scar visible today (Temple, Robert (2010). Egyptian Dawn. London: Century. p378).
Figure 2: Aerial view of Mzora Stone Circle from Google Earth
The only professional survey of the site was conducted in the 1970s by James Watt Mavor, Junior of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, USA. It is this survey that revealed Mzora to be not only remarkable in its own right but to have implications for the history of megalithic sites in Britain.
Figure 3: Mavor Survey and Aerial photo comparison
As hinted at by Geoffrey of Monmouth above, Mzora, incredibly, appears to have been constructed either by the same culture that erected the megalithic sites in France, Britain and Ireland or by one that was intimately connected with them. The ellipse is constructed using a Pythagorean right angled triangle of the ratio 12, 35, 37. This same technique was used in the construction of British stone ellipses of which 30 good examples survive including the Sands of Forvie and Daviot rings.
Of the use of Pythagorean triangles in British sites Professor Alexander Thom remarked:
“The remarkable thing is that the largest, the 12, 35, 37, was known and exploited more than any other with the exception of the 3, 4, 5.” Thom, Alexander (1967). Megalithic Sites in Britain. Oxford: OUP. p.27.
Figure 4: Mavor Survey Ellipse from http://www.egyptiandawn.info/chapter8.html
Furthermore it appears that the same unit of measure, the megalithic yard (or something remarkably close) used in the construction of the British sites surveyed by Thom, was also used in the construction of Mzora:
“If a ‘megalithic yard’ of 0.836 metres … [is used] … then the major axis and the perimeter of the ring take on values nearly integral.”Temple, Robert (2010). Egyptian Dawn. London: Century. p379.
Thom proposed that achieving a circumference measured in whole numbers was of paramount importance to the builders of megalithic rings:
“When Megalithic man set out a circle with a diameter of 8 units he found the circumference very nearly 25 units but in general he could not get nice whole numbers like these for both the diameter and the circumference simultaneously. Probably the attraction of the ellipse, and we know of over 30 set out by these people, was that it […] was easier to get the circumference near to some desired value.” Thom, Alexander (1967). Megalithic Sites in Britain. Oxford: OUP. p.31.
Mzora isn’t the only stone circle in Africa to share its construction methodology with British sites. The Nabta Playa stone ring in Southern Egypt conforms to Alexander Thom’s “Type I egg” geometry.
But there are further wonders. According to the diagram below by James Watt Mavor the following astronomical phenomena are marked by the circle:
Stone 30 marks the summer solstice sunrise.
Stone 146 marks the summer solstice sunset.
Stones 61 and 62 mark the winter solstice sunrise.
Stone 118 marks the winter solstice sunset.
Stone 47 marks the equinoctial sunrise
Stone 132 marks the equinoctial sunset
Temple, Robert (2010). Egyptian Dawn. London: Century. p391.
Figure 5: Mavor Survey Stone Numbers from http://www.egyptiandawn.info/chapter8.html
In Mzora we have a fascinating and important site that challenges many assumptions about stone circles in Britain as well as raising a great many more questions. At present the site is unmanaged, exposed and vulnerable. It is a great injustice that this monument isn’t given world heritage status and the protection it richly deserves.
For further discussion of the importance of this site see Chapter 8 of Robert Temple’s book, Egyptian Dawn (2010).
©Graham Salisbury 2011
Here are a couple of before and after images of Boslow Inscribed Stone, St Just, Cornwall.
Boslow Stone previously. [Image © C. Weatherhill]
Boslow Stone currently [Image © C. Weatherhill]
Fortunately the Boslow site is being monitored by CASPN (Cornish Ancient Sites Protection Network) in conjunction with Cornwall Council’s Historic Environment Service Officer who has already spoken to the farmer.
However, there are many thousands of ancient sites elsewhere which don’t have protection networks and are far more vulnerable. Budgetary constraints can mean that unless they are alerted to a problem Historic England inspectors may not be able to visit more than once in several years, if at all. (The parlous financial reality surrounding all heritage guardianship is something which those who complain about having to pay to go to Stonehenge should perhaps take on board!)
So it’s pretty clear that conservation is often in the hands of the general public who are in a position to alert official guardians to problems as soon as they arise.
The Heritage Journal 
4 comments
brian mac gabhann.
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there is now a warden at the site and a signpost from the main road from larache to tetouan,its about 3 kms after the village of souk tnine de sidi el yamani( a mere petrol stop),heading for tetouan on the left hand side.i visited the site in late january this year2012.
26/07/2012 at 20:43
Bob Quinn
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I visited this site (M’Zopra) in 1982 and was astonished to see a similarity to the megalithic Newgrange site in Co. Meath, Ireland. No archaeologist in Ireland was aware of this similarity. I was pointed towards it by an Italian archaeologist. Subsequently I met James W. Mavor and his brilliant paper confirmed my belief that early Irish constructions were ultimately inspired by North African designs.
I produced 4 films on the subject (Atlantean) in 1984 and wrote books referring to it (Atlantean Irish, Quartet Books 1986 and The Atlantean Irish, Lilliput Press, 2005/11)
I am now revisiting the subject of Carthage as an early coloniser of Ireland.
Bob Quinn
04/07/2014 at 12:05
Anwar Bouayad
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I know that place, the locals are calling it as AL METWAD. my wife was born in the same place just a few meters behind. that place is not well respected as is one of the archeological sites in Morocco that I took in consideration and even many pictures. I’m a tourguide in Dubai know, and this my job and my responsability to talk and to defend such monument ignored by the UNESCO. Morocco is one of the tourist destinations that everyone hope to step on once, because of his commitment to preserve the history the culture the traditions the religion and the languages. A country of contrasts.