Issue No 2: Autumn/Winter 2009

Rock Articles
Issue No. 2: Autumn/Winter 2009

Dear All,
Following positive feedback from Issue 1 of Rock Articles I’m happy to present Issue 2, which includes a round up of some of
the rock art activities taking place around Britain, and opportunities to get involved. It’s been a busy summer with new
discoveries, projects, and developments in recording techniques. My thanks to everyone who contributed text, images, or ideas.
If you know of any other rock art-related goings-on, I’d love to hear from you at the email address below. Finally, it is with
great sadness that I include a tribute to Blaze O’Connor who, in August, lost her brave battle with cancer. Blaze was only 34
when she died, but her contribution to rock art research was truly inspiring, and it was a privilege to have known her.
Kate
October 2009
kate.sharpe@live.co.uk
Contents:

• New British Discoveries: those new finds just keep on coming!................................................................. 1

• World Rock Art on the Web: international news and links to websites ....................................................... 2
• Capturing Carvings: Polynomial Texture Mapping sheds new light on Roughting Linn ................................. 3
• Controversial Carvings: Rock art raising eyebrows in Scotland .................................................................. 4
• Rock art around Britain: Fieldwork reports from Anglesey and West Yorkshire ........................................... 5
• Get Involved: Opportunities to take part in future rock art projects ............................................................. 6
• Featured Panels: The cup-marked standing stones of Northumberland ....................................................... 7
• Dates for your Diary: Forthcoming conferences, day schools, and other events .......................................... 8
• Rock Art Reads: New and forthcoming publications .................................................................................... 9
• In Memoriam: A tribute to Blaze O’Connor ................................................................................................. 9

NEW BRITISH DISCOVERIES

If you have made a new discovery and would like to spread the news please send me the details.

Cumbrian cups
Pete Style, a student at the University of Central Lancashire, was out rock art hunting
in the Lake District when he spotted this cup-marked outcrop of Skiddaw Slate in
Borrowdale. Lurking beneath the moss were around 25 cups, plus some curious bi-
furcating grooves. The location of the outcrop in the valley bottom, in marshy ground
on the southern shore of Derwent Water, and close to the River Derwent aligns it
neatly with other cup-marked outcrops found close to lake shores in the last 10 years
(Ullswater, Grasmere, Windermere, Crummock Water, Buttermere). A pattern is
definitely emerging!

Forteviot cist
Archaeologists from Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities made an exceptional
discovery during the 2009 season of the Strathearn Environs & Royal Forteviot (SERF)
project. In August, they uncovered a spectacular EBA grave at the Scottish Royal
centre at Forteviot in Perthshire. A giant crane lifted the massive cist cover which
preserved a wealth of metal and organic remains. Later in the evening, the setting
sunlight revealed an enigmatic series of carvings on the underside of the capstone.

Read more at: http://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_127216_en.html or http://heritage-

key.com/britain/forteviot-lifting-lid-4000-year-old-burial-chamber-perthshires-stonehenge

High marks in the Highlands

George Currie has added more records to the Scottish corpus. The panel shown, at
Coire Cireineach, Perth and Kinross, has a single cup-mark, and may be the highest
rock art in the UK, at a staggering 1011 m. A second panel, at the relatively low (!)
elevation of 844 m, has a ‘boss and surrounding groove’. These really are an example
of ‘High Art’!

For more info and images see http://rockartuk.fotopic.net/c1745100.html

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 Issue No 2: Autumn/Winter 2009

WORLD ROCK ART NEWS on the Web

New UNESCO Publication on World Rock Art

A paper on British rock art prepared by Stan Beckensall for the UNESCO meeting held in
2005 is one of several written by experts around the world included in a new publication:
‘L’art Pariétal. Conservation mise en valeur communication.’ Read Stan’s contribution at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17455970/British-Prehistoric-Rock-Art-an-overview

Marsupial lion found in Aboriginal rock art

A painting in red ochre found in the Kimberley region of Western Australia
suggests that the marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex, known only from fossil records,
may have co-existed with early Australians. Read more at:
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/2775/marsupial-lion-found-aboriginal-rock-art

Access to digitised South African rock art archive

The Woodhouse Rock Art Collection of the Department of Library Services at the University
of Pretoria was among African material launched recently on the World Digital Library
(http://www.wdl.org/en/#). The collection, created by amateur researcher Herbert (Bert) C.
Woodhouse includes more than 23,000 slides, maps, and tracings from rock art sites in
South Africa. These have now been digitized and added to the website which offers
unrestricted access, free of charge. Read more at: https://www.up.ac.za/dspace/handle/2263/595

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 Issue No 2: Autumn/Winter 2009

CAPTURING CARVINGS: Polynomial Texture Mapping

In Issue No.1, we introduced the new method of Polynomial Texture Mapping, or
‘PTM’. In June, a trial was carried out at Roughting Linn by Sarah Duffy, a
postgraduate student at York University, Paul Bryan (English Heritage
Photogrammetry Team) and NADRAP Volunteer Co-ordinator Richard Stroud.
Your Ed. was also invited along for an exclusive insight into this exciting new
technique.

In the field, the method involved taking a series of images with a stationery
digital camera positioned over the carving using a tripod and boom. For each
image, a flash gun was held at intervals around the carving, and at angles of
approximately 30, 45, and 60 degrees to the panel, forming a virtual dome
around the motif. The flash was held at an even distance from the panel -
roughly three times the diameter of the target (in this case around 90 cm for the
30 cm area captured. Each flash was reflected in two small black spheres
positioned to the edge of the motif. The information captured in the reflections
will be used by the processing software to create a model, which Sarah
describes as ‘2½D’.

Our target was an area in the centre of the outcrop, where a cluster of deep
cups are surrounded by relatively shallow rings. The images below demonstrate
the results that can be achieved, and the potential value of this technique for
capturing even faint markings. Image A shows a conventional photograph, taken
in the flat lighting conditions which prevail in this part of Britain. Image B shows
a screen shot of the PTM model generated using the images captured with the
new technique. The illumination has been enhanced to bring out the contours of
the motifs. Sarah reports that, while the project was a success, she learned
valuable lessons which she hopes to use in further research at Roughting Linn.

See www.hpl.hp.com/research/ptm/ for an overview of the technology.

Diagram showing PTM image capture process

A) Conventional photograph taken in flat lighting B) Screen shot of PTM model with enhanced
conditions illumination

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 Issue No 2: Autumn/Winter 2009

A new motif?
During our visit to Roughting Linn, Richard drew our attention to a very faint motif on the extreme eastern side of the outcrop,
largely isolated from the main areas of carving. To the naked eye it appeared to be little more than a couple of barely visible,
curving arcs. Richard applied his well-honed skills of photogrammetry and, lo and behold, a fully-formed motif of no less than
five concentric rings plus central cup emerged from the processed 3D model. The motif does not appear on Beckensall
drawings, and may be a completely new discovery.

A) Conventional photography with flat light B) Screen-shot of Richard’s photogrammetry model

CONTROVERSIAL CARVINGS: The ‘eyes’ have it!

A carving on the lintel of the Holm of Papa
Westray Neolithic burial mound has been the
subject of some discussion since Richard
Strachan, senior archaeologists at Historic
Scotland linked the carving, suggested to be
Scotland’s earliest depiction of a human face,
with a small Neolithic sandstone figurine (‘The
Orkney Venus’) found at Links of Noltland earlier
this year.

Strachan notes that: "Initial comparisons do

show a similarity in use of this eyebrow motif
and may point to the possibility that the
markings in the cairn are meant to show human
eyebrows and eyes, as the style is very similar
to the figurine.” The ‘eyebrow’ motif at Holm of
Papa Westray was possibly first recorded by G.
Petrie, in his article "Description of antiquities in
Orkney recently examined, with illustrative
drawings" in PSAS 2, 1854-7, 60-1. These are
certainly not the only ‘ocular’ motifs to have
been noted over the years: examples of double-
cups surrounded by oval grooves are fairly
common and invite comparisons with faces, owl-
eyes, etc. It seems it is human nature to see
faces in even the most abstract patterns. More
images of similar carvings can be seen on The
British Rock Art Collection website at
http://rockartuk.fotopic.net/c915651.html.

See also http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8260611.stm

Figures
Top: eyebrows at Holm of Papa Westray.
Middle: the ‘Orkney Venus’ from Links of Noltland.
Bottom: Face-like composition, Gled Law N01, Northumberland (ERA website).

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 Issue No 2: Autumn/Winter 2009

ROCK ART AROUND BRITAIN: Reports from this summer’s fieldwork

You’ve been busy this summer working on rock art around Britain. Pete Style, a student participating in the Anglesey Rock Art
Project gives us an account of his experiences in Anglesey, and Keith Boughey Project Director of the Stanbury Hill Project in
West Yorkshire, provides an overview of recent activities.

Anglesey Rock-Art Project Field School & Excavation, 18 - 22 June 2009

Pete Style (MA Student)
We arrived at Llwydiarth Esgob Farm a few days before
the summer solstice. Adam suggesting that the following
morning looked our best shot at observing the sunrise at
Bryn Celli Ddu chambered tomb. This required a 0345
start, but we were graced with the rising sun shining down
the passage illuminating us and the chamber and blinding
Irene! Worth the pre dawn crawl out of the sleeping bag.

The group included people with a broad range of skills,

from undergraduates to PhD students, from Britain and
Ireland, interested individuals and locals. This made for
diverse, entertaining and stimulating discussions on all
aspects of rock art and archaeology – particularly as we
had an ‘embedded’ psychologist in the party – and
inspired by the varied sites visited, some with carvings,
and some without. Fig 1: Solstice sunrise at Bryn Celli Ddu.

George’s sermons, preached at the entrance to the tombs, invigorated the assembled congregation, enlightening us with his
interpretation of the monuments, the rock art, and their relationship to the surrounding landscapes: the Portal Dolmen of
Bachwen (which hatched the ‘woodpecker’ theory); Bryn yr Hen Bobl, an interesting site with its unusual terrace; the truly
megalithic tomb of Lligwy; and the nearby Iron Age Din Lligwy.

We spent interesting afternoon in Barclodiad y Gawres, photographing the petroglyphs under controlled lighting conditions,
including the use of candles to imitate the way in which they might have been viewed in prehistory. Other recording techniques
such as tracing were practiced on the Llwydiarth Esgob Stone, and Abby George then gave a presentation on the process of
digitisation of these techniques. No further carvings were revealed through excavation, though it was apparent the panel was
only around half of its original size; the farmer suggested it was carved on ‘Blue stone’, a granite glacial drift common locally
and originating in southern Scotland, which he pointed out in the foundation stones of the older farm buildings.

While the excavation was a little disappointing, we did locate a couple of

new cupules at Bryn Celli Ddu. The weather was not great, but the
evenings spent round the fire pit were entertaining: we got in touch
with the hunter-gatherer/ Boy Scout/Girl Guide in us, and forgot about
the drizzle! All in all I think a satisfying time was had by all. The sunrise
at Bryn Celli Ddu and Maura’s rendition of Wuthering Heights by
firelight, were experiences that will linger long in my memory!

Pete Style, September 2009

Fig 2: Detail of motifs at Barclodiad y Gawres.

Ed: Note that a second week of work is taking Fig 3: Carvings by candlelight, Barclodiad y Gawres.
place in October – see page 7 for more
information

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 Issue No 2: Autumn/Winter 2009

The Stanbury Hill Project: Archaeological Investigation of a Rock Art Site

Keith Boughey (Project Director)

Located on the edge of Bingley Moor

overlooking Bingley and the Aire Valley (Fig 1)
sits Stanbury Hill, a broad sweep of higher
ground providing an ideal place for prehistoric
settlement with commanding views and
streams providing a supply of fresh water to
both sides (Fig 2). On this small hill less than
0.25km2 in area are no less than 150 separate
possible archaeological features including 15
examples of prehistoric cup-and-ring rock art
believed to date from the Late Neolithic/EBA
(Fig 3), up to 20 EBA ‘burial cairns’, several
lines of prehistoric walling, a possible hut circle
complex, as well as the find-spots for Late
Neolithic flint tools – all dating from 2,500 B.C. Fig 1: Location of Stanbury Hill, Bingley Moor, W. Yorks.
or earlier.

The Stanbury Hill Project, a collaboration between Bingley & District

Local History Society and the Division of Archaeological Sciences at
the University of Bradford, was set up to investigate the site. With
the aid of a grant of £49,400 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, it aims
to engage local people in their past by allowing them to participate
directly in the project, to gain skills in archaeological investigation
and learn more about their past.

The fieldwork has been undertaken in phases with the first

Fig 2: Stanbury Hill, Bingley Moor view from the South.
concentrating on topographic, photographic and geophysical surveys
‒ information which will contribute to the final excavation strategy.
Surveying work began during the late summer of 2008 and
continued through July and August this year: it is hoped to complete
the entire archaeological programme before the end of 2010.

While there is a long tradition of identifying and recording rock art, it is only recently that attempts have been made to
understand it and place it within a context of what it actually meant to people. For example, one theory is that rock art
represents a territorial marker denoting the boundary between the settled land which people inhabit and the wild beyond, that
the rock art panels and cairns represent a sacred space which protects or separates the tamed and domestic from the untamed
and wild, or the realm of the living from that of the ancestors. The aim of the project is to try and understand the site, what it
was used for and what sort of landscape it existed in.

Stanbury Hill is a relatively undisturbed prehistoric moorland site. As such, it provides a unique opportunity for both
archaeologists and the local community to learn more about their Bronze Age past, especially the rock art, as well as providing
volunteers with the experience and skills of an archaeological dig at first hand, supervised by a University Division of
Archaeology with a first-class record.

Fig 3: Examples of prehistoric rock art on Stanbury Hill

For further information about the project, please see the Bingley & District Local History Society web-site at:
http://www.bingleyhistory.co.uk or contact Dr. K. Boughey (Project Director) Tel.: 01274-591736; keith_boughey@hotmail.com.

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 Issue No 2: Autumn/Winter 2009

GET INVOLVED: New opportunities

The Ross-Shire Rock Art Project
A new rock art project in the north of Scotland will clear up existing records and use current methodology to create a consistent
and comprehensive dataset for the rock art of Ross-Shire. Project Co-ordinator, John Wombell, has been busy applying for
funding, and raising awareness of the project and its aims. He recently secured small grants from the Catherine
Mackichan Trust and the CBA Challenge Fund so plans are now moving ahead.

The Ross-Shire Rock Art Project (RRAP) will be the first

area project of its kind in Scotland. The initial aim of the
project will be to verify all 60 plus rock art entries on the
Historic Environment Record, some dating back to the
1880s. Since then, stones have been taken from the wild
and placed in gardens, and some have been destroyed -
two were deliberately smashed up in Strath Rusdale last
year. All of the 'official' records were made before the
advent of GPS and the positions of some panels are very
vague. The Ordnance Survey identified a lot of cup
marked stones about 30 years ago and most of these
have not been visited since. Some natural marks were
wrongly identified as being carved and some records have
been duplicated. Once a definitive list of stones has been
established and funds are available, each rock art panel
will be recorded in detail. It is proposed to use the
recording methodology established by the
Northumberland and Durham Rock Art Project (NADRAP)
using photogrammetry to make 3D digital images of the
One of 12 carved stones at Rogie. Picture by John Wombell.
panels. The budget allows for the specialist training that
this will require.

NOSAS members have discovered 20 or so new stones over the past two years, with the group of 12 marked stones at Rogie
now being the largest known group in Ross-shire. John has developed an unusual method of showing the positions of cup
marks on his photos, which led, indirectly to further discoveries. John recounts “The air was heavy with the scent of ripe wild
raspberries as I was literally surrounded by them, so just for fun, I picked a handful and placed one rasp in each cup. On a roll
after that I did this with all the known boulders and outcrops. In the process of fossicking around I found another 4 marked
boulders in the same area. Needless to say there is much more to do at Rogie, and a 'pound to a penny' there are more
discoveries to be made.”

The proposed project budget allows for the purchase of Map Maker software, digital base maps to cover the whole area of the
former County of Ross and Cromarty and for training in the use of Map Maker. John would also like to do some geographical
modelling when the locations of all the sites are known, and then undertake some carefully targeted prospecting of new sites.
John envisages that there will be a 50:50 split between actual fieldwork and the administration of the project, so volunteers will
not need to have the constitution of a mountain goat to get involved with the project. He is planning a concentrated week of
activity possibly in late November once the vegetation has died down a bit (bracken is a big problem up there!) In that week
volunteers will try to complete the checking of all entries in the HER.

If you would like to get involved please contact John on 01997 423273 or john.wombell@btinternet.com

Anglesey Rock-Art Project Field School, 23rd - 26th October 2009.

Total cost of the weekend field tour activities is £115. Book now to avoid disappointment!

A message from organiser, Adam Stanford: “The Anglesey Rock-Art Project (ARAP) began with a field trip in June 2004 with
part-time students from Bristol University and our discovery on the first day of cup-marks on a rock outcrop within 250m of the
Bryn Celli Ddu passage-grave, one of several new and significant discoveries for the Rock-Art of Wales. We organise field work
trips on a regular basis and have found more Rock-Art at other sites including Barclodiad y Gawes and Cromlech Farm.

The project is entirely self-funded through Archaeology Safaris Ltd and the administrative costs are met by the volunteers
taking part on the field trips. In exchange for time and effort on walking surveys and recording rock-art panels, the participants
of each field work trip are given a tour of the main and less well known sites on Anglesey and surrounding areas. Field notes
are provided and the archaeology of each site is discussed and explained in detail by Dr George Nash.

The Friday and Monday will be travelling and meeting/dispersing days, with some field tour activity, with the main activity
taking place on the Saturday and Sunday. Travel to and from Anglesey is at participants expense, as is the accommodation for
up to 3 nights. We suggest the Victoria Hotel in Menai Bridge, 01248 712309, as this is where we will be setting out from each
day.”

For further details see http://www.archaeology-safaris.co.uk/booking_form.html

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 Issue No 2: Autumn/Winter 2009

FEATURED PANELS
The cup-marked standing stones of Northumberland
These three giants stand out amongst the hundreds of carved panels in Northumberland. The heavily fluted Matfen Stone, the
tapering Swinburne Stone, and the top-heavy, ‘axe’-shaped Warrior Stone have clusters of cup marks, concentrated towards the
base, embellishing their already impressive, monumental stature. Other examples of carved standing stones can be found in
Cumbria (e.g. Long Meg, The Goggleby Stone, Kirksanton) and Argyll (e.g. Nether Largie, Ballymeanoch).

Image by B. Kerr Image by B. Kerr Image from ERA website

The Matfen Stone (ERA-1477) The Swinburne Stone (ERA-1478) The Warrior Stone (ERA-1479)
Matfen, Castle Morpeth Chollerton, Tynedale Matfen, Castle Morpeth
NZ0332670449 NY9375574543 NZ0434674655
Height: 2.3 m Height: 3.6 m Height: 1.8 m

Drawings by Stan Beckensall, from the Beckensall Archive website.

Rock arty-fact: In 1989 Ronald Morris observed that 80% of British carvings on outcropping stone were found on
‘near-horizontal surfaces’ (although his analysis did not include any panels with only cup-marks!). We can now be
more exact: analysis of the records on the ERA database (http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/era/), collected by the
NADRAP volunteers, shows that for the 422 outcrop panels where ‘slope’ data was recorded, 98% had slopes of less
than 35° to the horizontal; 88% were on slopes of less than 15°, and almost 35% were on slopes of between 0 and
5°. (For more details see Morris, R. 1989. The prehistoric rock art of Great Britain: a survey of all sites bearing motifs
more complex than simple cup-marks. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 55: 45-88.

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 Issue No 2: Autumn/Winter 2009

DATES for your DIARY: Forthcoming Conferences and Events

If you have an event you would like to publicise here please send me the details.

– 2009 –

25th October
Art on the Rocks: Art Walks in Teesdale
Get your boots on and join Paul and Barbara Brown who will be guiding walkers around the rock carvings of Cotherstone Moor.
Numbers limited so book early to avoid disappointment! See http://www.scribd.com/doc/19032333/Art-Walks-Teesdale-2009

31st October
Prehistory of the Yorkshire Dales, ‘PLACE’ 2009, Grassington (in association with Yorkshire Dales National Park
and Yorkshire Dales Landscape Research Trust).
Held at the Devonshire Institute (Town Hall) in Grassington. Fee: £10 (includes refreshments, but not lunch).
Speakers to include Terry O'Connor, Roger Jacobi, Tom Lord, Alan King and Mark Simpson, Roger Martlew, and Robert White.
For more information contact Dr Margaret Atherden at PLACE Office, Chief Executive, York St John University, Lord Mayor's
Walk, York YO31 7EX, tel: 01904 766291, email: PLACE@yorksj.ac.uk, or see www.place.uk.com/conferences.htm.

7th November
Lost and found. Tees Archaeology Dayschool on Finds and the Stories They Tell.
Held 10.15 am - 5pm at University of Durham, Conference Centre, Ebsworth Building, Stockton Campus TS17 6BH.
Fee: £10 (£7 for students/seniors/unwaged). Fees include refreshments only; additional £5 for lunch.
Speakers include: Lindsay Allason-Jones, Rob Collins, Andrew Mallard, David Sim,Mark Simmons and Rob Young. For more
information contact Tees Archaeology at Sir William Gray House, Clarence Road, Hartlepool TS24 8BT, tel: 01429 523455,
email: tees.archaeology@hartlepool.gov.uk, or see www.teesarchaeology.com.

14th November
Archaeology in the Lake District 2009 (organised by the National Park), Keswick.
Held at the Theatre by the Lake, Keswick. Fee: £10 (£15 including lunch). Parking voucher £2.
Speakers include Jamie Lund, John Hodgkins, Jane Foale, Jamie Quartermaine, and Sue Stallibrass.
For details and booking forms see:
http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/index/learning/archaeology/archaeologynewsandevents/archaeologyevents/archaeologynews.htm

14th November
West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service, 10th Annual Day School
Held at Royal Armouries, Leeds. Fee: £12.
The morning sessions will bring you up to date with the wide range of archaeological work that has taken place in West
Yorkshire over the last year, including some exciting prehistoric finds in a wood north of Bradford. For more information contact
Nicola Wharton at Education and Community Engagement Officer, Policy, Performance and Community Engagement,
Archaeology Section, West Yorkshire Joint Services, PO Box 5, Nepshaw Lane South, Morley LS27 0QP, tel: 0113 2898267,
email: nwharton@wyjs.org.uk, or see www.archaeology.wyjs.org.uk.

– 2010 –

17th April
The 10th Annual Archaeology and the Historic Environment in the Yorkshire Dales Day School, Grassington.
Speakers will include Liz Andrew-Wilson, Angus Winchester, George Ingle, Kate Sharpe, and Martin Roe.
For further information and booking forms please telephone 01969 652338 or e-mail herinfo@yorkshiredales.org.uk

24th April
5th Biennial Rock Art Symposium: “Underlying Themes”, University of Bristol and Time and Mind
Tickets: £20. For further details contact Dr George Nash at George.Nash@bristol.ac.uk

8th May
British Rock Art Group 2010
BRAG 2010 will be held on 8th May in Cambridge. More details in the next issue of Rock Articles, or contact Jamie Hampson at
jamiehampson@yahoo.com

22nd-24th June
ISPRS Technical Commission V symposium, 'Close-range image measurement techniques', Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Although this might sound a rather ‘techie’ conference it does cover the sort of developments in photogrammetry we have been
successfully using in rock-art recording and may well highlight new directions this work could take e.g. filtration of the 3D
datasets to assist analysis and interpretation. For details see: www.isprs-newcastle2010.org

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 Issue No 2: Autumn/Winter 2009

ROCK ART READS: New and Forthcoming Publications

Prehistoric Rock Art in Britain. Sermons in Stone by Stan Beckensall, Amberley Publishing
From the Amazon website: Prehistoric Rock Art in Britain offers the reader an intriguing insight into a
fascinating subject. This book aims to awaken an interest in rock art, allowing people to discover a
whole new way of looking at landscape and the countryside. Such discoveries can bring joy and
companionship in the search for rock art, something that has always been a vital part of archaeology.
Prehistoric Rock Art in Britain is a lavishly illustrated book and one which suggests new ways of
studying Britain's rock art.
ISBN-10: 1848686269; ISBN-13: 978-1848686267
Not yet published - advance orders taken, Price: £18.99 now £13.29 (Paperback 31 Oct 2009)
http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/87437/

Britain's Oldest Art: The Ice Age Cave Art of Creswell Crags by Paul Bahn and Paul Pettitt,
English Heritage.
From the Oxbow website: In 2003 Britain's first Ice Age cave art was discovered at Creswell Crags by
Paul Bahn, Paul Pettitt and Sergio Ripoll, a discovery billed as one of the most important prehistoric
finds of the last decade. The book starts with the discovery of the art, places the Ice Age archaeology
of the crags in a national context, draws on continental parallels and details the scientific verification
of the art. It concludes with a chapter on the national search for other examples of Ice Age cave art
by the Cave Art Survey Team, commissioned by English Heritage. Providing a final, definitive list of
the motifs, each with a photograph, line drawing and full description, while setting the art into its
archaeological and geological context, the book is intended to inform specialists, students and visitors
to the caves.
ISBN-13: 978-1-84802-025-2; ISBN-10: 1-84802-025-2, 172p b/w and col illus
Price GB £14.99 (Paperback 10 March 2009)
http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/86436/

IN MEMORIAM

Dr Blaze O’Connor
BA MA PhD
20th April 1975- 8th August 2009

Blaze’s pioneering excavations and recording techniques shed new light on the
carvings of Britain and Ireland. Blaze had many friends amongst both the
academic and the amateur rock art communities; her enthusiasm, determination,
and intelligence were matched by her friendly, open nature, and quick smile. Her
work in Ireland has inspired several similar projects elsewhere in Britain and it is
hoped that others will follow, creating a continuing legacy.



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