Geological surveys are now underway with members of Saltash U3A geology group and Caradon Amateur Geology Club scouring the moorland landscape, conducting the broad survey of the Minions and wider Caradon Hill area.
Following training sessions run by geologist Calum Beeson, teams of volunteers are working their way across the moor equipped with GPS devices, maps and waterproof notebooks. The volunteers are measuring the crystal sizes of the granite and recording the location the data has been collected from. This information will inform Calum and project archaeologist Emma Stockley, as to where the focus of further investigations should be.
Calum and Emma began the in-depth data collection process at The Hurlers themselves. This involved photographing a small area of each stone under natural, LED and UV lighting in order to highlight the crystal make-up of the stones.
These surveys are on-going, and stones uncovered during the excavation in September will be analysed in much the same way.
