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Rock Articles
Dear All,
Welcome to the Spring 2015 issue of Rock Articles. The last six months have been a busy time for rock art, with new discoveries and
excavations. Of course all the new information generated will take time to process so we will have to be patient and wait for the
October issue for the full details of these. Meanwhile this issue provides some food for thought with a geological perspective on the
origins and creation of rock art from and a fascinating observation on the possible role of the sun. Enjoy the summer before the
bracken hides the rock art!
Kate
April 2015
kesharpe@outlook.com
Contents:
British Rock Art News: two excavations and a new interpretation panel .................................................... 3
World Rock Art on the Web: international news and links ......................................................................... 5
After a dearth in discoveries in the last issue, we now have a number to report with two in south Northumberland and a number in
the Lake District. As always, grid references are not included but the locations of all panels references are recorded on the relevant
HER database.
Wallridge, Northumberland
Local man Tony Metcalf was out walking his dog on farmland behind Wallridge village in Northumberland when he came across
these cup and ring markings. Tony said, I've walked this land for over thirty years and have never seen these markings before. He
suspects the marked stone has been exposed because, unfortunately, the landowner is using a mechanical digger to extract stone
from a rocky outcrop. It is hoped that the panel can now be recorded before it is lost to any further earth moving.
The Wallridge panel with Sookie providing a doggy-sized scale. Images courtesy of Tony Metcalf.
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Ponteland, Northumberland
This large, decorated boulder was discovered in a field near Ponteland to the north west of Newcastle Upon Tyne during an
evaluation prior to the start of a planning appeal. Unfortunately the rock art (on the lower side of the boulder) was not
identified before the stone was removed by machine. It is now at the Great North Museum. The evaluation concluded that the
boulder was not in its original location, possibly moved to the edge of the field away from the plough, although it has suffered
some plough damage (see image). The nearest recorded neighbouring rock art panel is at Throckley Bank which was found in a
similar context (see http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/era/section/panel/overview.jsf?eraId=1365 )
Detail of the Ponteland stone (now outside the Great North Museum)
showing cup and ring motifs with peck marks, and plough damage along
the lower edge.
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Earlier this year a research team seeking clues to potential life on Mars visited the area to study the survival, under extreme
conditions, of rock-clinging microbes. They discovered carbonate deposits lining the walls of two neighbouring valleys about 200
km south of the Cave of the Swimmers, which they formed in shallow water along a lake shoreline. Carbon dating indicates that
the two lakes existed 8,100 and 9,400 years ago respectively closer to the time when people were decorating the caves.
Read more at: phys.org/news/2015-01-art-scientists-ancient-lakes.html
Full journal article: Marinova, M. M., A. N. Meckler, and C.P. McKay (2014). "Holocene freshwater carbonate structures in the
hyper-arid Gebel Uweinat region of the Sahara Desert (Southwestern Egypt)." Journal of African Earth Sciences 89(0): 50-55.
Urban rock art discovered in Sydney
An undeveloped urban oasis in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia has
recently given up a secret. Beneath the vegetation, on the top of a midden
site, local heritage officers discovered an ancient Aboriginal rock art site
with hand-stencils made using natural ochres, and images of eels, a
spearhead, and a crescent-shaped moon. Although people had lived close
by for decades they had not recognised the art, perhaps mistaking it for
more recent graffiti. The site was only discovered when Sydney Water
investigated the discovery of a traditional fishing hook found in the soil.
The art has not yet been scientifically dated.
Read more at: www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-20/ancient-aboriginal-rock-art-sitediscovered-in-sydney/5907530
Hand stencil discovered in Sydney suburb.
Image from ABC: Anne Barker
The new findings have profound implications for the debate about the origins of art-making, supporting ideas that it began in
Africa rather than Europe. Read more at: https://app.griffith.edu.au/news/2014/11/26/ancient-rock-art-discovery-across-asia/
and www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rock-art-origins-reappraised
Full journal article: Paul S.C. Taon, Noel Hidalgo Tan, Sue OConnor, et al. (2014). The global implications of the early
surviving rock art of greater Southeast Asia. Antiquity, 88, pp 1050-1064 doi:10.1017/S0003598X00115315
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Vandalism in Utah
A 20 year-old artist from Utah has been speaking out about the vandalism
of nearby rock art panels. Jonathon Bailey visited his first prehistoric site
aged just six and over the past 13 years he has spent many hours
wandering Utahs remote San Rafael Swell finding new sites.
Creating rock art is an extension of nature, said Bailey, Youve got an
artistic and a natural force sort of blended into a single set of images.
Recently, however, Bailey has noticed a disturbing trend of increased
incidents of vandalism. Its really almost murder, he said, Youre killing
something thats existed for thousands of years.
Vandalism on the Rochester Panel shows the problem has
been ongoing for decades. Image: Geoff Liesik, KSL-TV.
Read more and hear what Bailey has to say in a news report
at: http://bit.ly/1H1yiJk
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a series of common feldspar minerals, consisting of mixtures of sodium and calcium aluminum silicates
any crystalline grain in an igneous or metamorphic rock that is much larger than those of the surrounding matrix
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Figure 4. Cup and Ring markings incorporated into an over-deepened runnel, Old
Bewick, Northumberland.
If you would like to submit an article to Rock Articles please contact me at kesharpe@outlook.com.
Feature articles. Contributions are invited for articles on all aspects of Rock Art in Britain and Ireland, including recording
techniques, interpretation, management, presentation, education, and conservation. We are keen to hear about any community
projects, heritage initiatives, new techniques, new research, and to provide a forum for anyone with an interest in rock art.
Perhaps you have been to a conference and could write a report, or have participated in a workshop or training event? Articles
should be 750-1000 words, and should include at least two images (for which you should have permission).
New Discoveries. If you have identified any new rock art and would like to feature your find in the New Discoveries section of
Rock Articles, get in touch, with a photograph of your find. Please note that grid references will not be included in Rock Articles.
Finds should be reported to and verified by the relevant local authority HER officer.
British Rock Art News. Do you have some news about your project, or an update on a particular panel that you can fit into
less than 200 words? Why not share it RA readers?
Inspired by Rock Art? Rock art often inspires creative responses. Have cup and ring marks fired your imagination? If so wed
love to see your work!
Events and opportunities. Are you running an event that might be of interest to RA readers? Let us know about any talks,
conferences, or guided walks. Maybe you are looking for participants for a community project? Advertise here and use the RA
network to spread the word.
Submission deadline for Rock Articles No. 14: 18th Sept 2015
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Rock Art Abstracts: Headlines from recent journal papers. What are academic researchers currently
thinking about? (Full papers available online only with subscription)
Acoustics in Spain
This study analyses reverberation and echoes in areas with rock art and in areas with none. Different sounds were tested to
identify instruments capable producing a sensory reaction. The authors argue that the acoustic properties of a site indicate a
sacred use of the landscape, in which sound was a key element of ritual performance.
Diaz-Andreu, M., and Carlos Garcia, B. (2015). Acoustic rock art landscapes: a comparison between the acoustics of three
Levantine rock art areas in Mediterranean Spain [online]. Rock Art Research, 32(1): 46-62.
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The Sun Shadow Hypothesis Lisa-Elen Meyering BA Archaeology and Anthropology, Durham University
As part of my Undergraduate Dissertation project at Durham
University, I visited the World Heritage Site at Tanum, Sweden.
Tanum belongs to the county Bohusln, with northern Bohusln
bearing more than 1500 rock art sites. Its most abundant motif is
the boat and Bohusln alone counts almost 10000 of such
depictions. Yet, many anthropomorphic beings can also be observed
on the panels. They carry out actions such as hunting animals, are
engaged in interpersonal violence, dance, marry, and play
instruments. Additionally, there are a number of highly enlarged,
super-sized beings on the higher rocks of the sites. They are often
displayed with distorted bodies, such as long legs, enlarged calf
muscles and a short upper body.
Upon visiting the panel at Asperberget, a site of both steep and
almost horizontally sloped panels, the evening sun cast shadows of
visitors back onto the rock.
It was remarkable how the human shadows with
prominent features such as disproportionately
small upper bodies, elongated legs and
pronounced calf muscles mirrored the oversized
and enlarged anthropomorphic figures on the
rocks. The idealised figures on board boats as well
as stand-alone enlarged anthropomorphs outside
the realms of the boat possess heavily enlarged
calf muscles, generally long legs and a longer
lower body.
The following images exemplify this observed
phenomenon as depicted on the rocks of
Asperberget. The long legs in relation to the short
upper body is clearly visible and shows a striking
resemblance to the anthropomorphic beings
engraved in the rocks.
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ISBN: 978-1782978794; 232 pages with colour illustrations; Oxbow Books; Not yet published advance orders taken. Price GB 27.
www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/picturing-the-bronze-age.html
Elevated rock art. Towards a maritime understanding of Bronze Age rock art in northern
Bohusln, Sweden Volume 2. Johan Ling.
From Oxbow: How may Bohusln rock art and landscape be perceived and understood? Since the
Bronze Age, the landscape has been transformed by shore displacement but, largely due to
misunderstanding and certain ideas about the character of Bronze Age society, rock art research in
Tanum has drawn much of its inspiration from the present agrarian landscape. This perception of
the landscape has not been a major issue. This volume, republished from the GOTAC Serie B
(Gothenburg Archaeological thesis 49) aims to shed light on the process of shore displacement and
its social and cognitive implications for the interpretation of rock art in the prehistoric landscape.
The findings clearly show that in the Bronze Age, the majority of rock art sites in Bohusln had a
very close spatial connection to the sea.
ISBN: 978-1782977629; 272 pages with b/w and colour illustrations; Oxbow Books; Price GB
40. Also available as an eBook (pdf).
www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/elevated-rock-art-towards-a-maritime-understanding-of-bronze-age-rock-art-innorthern-bohuslan-sweden.html
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