Tuesday 8 May 2012

Rough Tor in the rain!

Not pronounced Ruff Tor but Row Tor or, more locally, Rowta. There for an evening field walk with the Plymouth and District Archeaology Society, lead by Peter Herring, a consultant with English Heritage. And it rained and it was cold but it was enjoyable. This part of Bodmin Moor has a wealth of prehistoric remains- hut circles, bank cairns, stone rows - nestling amongst the remnants of much later agricultural systems. In many ways very similar to what you see on Dartmoor but, in other ways, quite distinct. Some of the features here, whilst almost definately linked to points in the landscape, do not seem to have any obvious function. The key to interpretation lies in knowing how prehistoric man thought and, unfortunately, we'll never be able to figure that out. So all remains a mystery and subject to much speculation. Some of it totally fanciful but some of it must contain an element of truth. After all, they were human, as we are, and thought, as we do. There was a reason for everything they did but we'll never know for certain what that was. A pity.

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