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The Ancient Stones of Wales – Chris Barber and John Godfrey Williams
Chapter 16 QUARTZ

 “The structure of quartz possibly converts earth currents. If quartz is linked to underground water-courses, a conversion from hydrostatic pressure into static electricity may occur."  Randall N. Baer and Vicki V. Baer

The ancient stone monuments of pre-Christian times in Wales can be found in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colours, but they cannot be classified into specific types. These ancient stones of a seemingly endless variety have had their shape affected by age and weathering, which frustrates any attempts at finding common features which could be useful starting points for lines of serious research. However, the only common point relating to these stones is that they all seem to contain granules of quartz.

Not all stones found in our rural landscape contain quartz, so one may infer that quartz was one of the necessary elements required in the mysterious stones chosen by the ancient erectors.

Quartz can be found in these stones either in small sparkling crystals or in larger groupings of crystals, which sometimes appear as noticeable white veins running through the rock hewn out to form the larger ancient monoliths.

It is therefore necessary to make a careful examination of the chemical components of quartz and their joint distinctive and peculiar physical characteristics which prove to be most unusual. In modern times, there is an increasing use of quartz crystals and silicon chips in the expanding computer industry and projects relating to space research. This new attention given to the priorities of quartz opens up all kinds of possibilities which would astonish archaeologists of the old school.

Quartz is a clear crystal which is usually colourless and is made up in a chemical form of one atom of the element silicon and two atoms of oxygen. It is given the chemical abbreviation Si.0.2. The atoms forming any kind of recognised crystalline mineral are always arranged in certain patterns and these determine the structure and symmetry of the crystal. There are six main crystal systems and quartz belongs to the one called Hexagonal because the crystals have four different axis, of which three are equal and horizontal and make angles of 120' with each other while the fourth and vertical axis is at right-angles to the plane of the horizontal axis and is of a different length to the other three axis.

The hexagonal prisms of quartz in its natural state are terminated by hexagonal pyramids. The solid corners are often truncated by tetrahedral faces placed either to the right or left as the crystal is properly orientated, giving rise to the right and left-handed varieties respectively. In some forms, the prism faces are suppressed and crystals consist of a double hexagonal pyramid. These quartz crystals are found in a positive and negative formation which is unlike the formation of any [other] natural crystal.

There may be some connection here between this peculiarity and the Spiral Power of the Fifth Wave Band felt or experienced at prehistoric standing stones by some dowsers, when their bodies are moved either to the right or the left when they are holding the palms of both hands of the vertical surface of the upright stone about 5 feet above ground level.

In 1880, the famous French scientists Pierre and Jaques Curie, who discovered radium, were measuring the conductivity of quartz and they observed that pressure on the testplates on which they were working produced a measurement on a sensitive electrometer. They had discovered what is now known as the piezoelectric effect. This shows that mechanical pressure on a crystal will produce a measurable voltage and conversely an electrical voltage applied to a crystal will produce mechanical movement.

It was found that, when alternating electrical current is passed through a crystal plate, the charges oscillate back and forth at the resonant frequency of the crystal. This now forms the basis for the crystal oscillator components used in electronics which has recently led on to the silicon revolution of the computer age, which is now progressing so fast that the average person is often amazed at the results that can be obtained from the most up-to-date computers and robots.