Issue No.

20: Autumn 2018

Issue No. 20: October 2018

Dear All,
It was a busy summer with plenty of rock art related investigations and meetings, but no new examples to report this time.
Don’t forget we are moving to an annual issue, so have a great year and I’ll be back in October 2019. The BRAG team are on
the ball this year, and have already distributed invitations for next year’s conference which will be in Newcastle in June. Hope to
see some of you there!

Kate

October 2018
kesharpe@outlook.com

Contents:
 British rock art news. Linking records ....................................................................................................... 2
 World rock art on the web. International news and web links ................................................................... 3
 Robin Hood, myths and legends: The Lunedale 'Penny Stone'. Paul and Barbara Brown. ..................... 6
 Rock art reads ......................................................................................................................................... 8
 Dates for your diary ................................................................................................................................. 8
 ‘Excavation’ at Carr Edge, Northumberland. Andy Curtis ....................................................................... 9
 Rock art abstracts. Headlines from the journals ...................................................................................... 12

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 Issue No. 20: Autumn 2018

BRITISH ROCK ART NEWS: Projects, publications, and people

Megalithic Portal Links with England’s Rock Art

Anne Tate
For many years The Megalithic Portal
has been linking up with other
databases and information sources,
including The Stone Rows of Great
Britain, Prehistoric Dartmoor Walks and
The Northern Antiquarian.
Continuing this theme, Richard Stroud
(rich32) and myself (Anne T) have, for
the last eight months, been undertaking the task of adding links from the Megalithic Portal to the England’s Rock Art website.
England’s Rock Art (ERA) is a unique, valuable and comprehensive record of almost 2,100 rock art panels found in County
Durham, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and the Rombalds Moor area of West Yorkshire.
ERA incorporates photographs, descriptions, photogrammetry and 3-D models initially from the Northumberland and Durham
Rock Art project (NADRAP) and the digitised Beckensall Archive. It was then expanded to include the Carved Stone
Investigations: Rombalds Moor (CSI:RM) which incorporates previous work by the Ilkley Archaeology Group. As such, it is the
accumulation of many thousands of hours of work by experts such as Dr Stan Beckensall, Dr Aron Mazel, Dr Keith Boughey and
Edward Vickerman, professional archaeologists from Northumberland and Durham County Councils and dedicated teams of
volunteers.
My reason for wanting to be involved in this project is because I worry about really valuable sources of information being taken
off-line or lost because either funding runs out or another project becomes ‘flavour of the month’. As an amateur enthusiast,
who can often be found out and about with my camera tramping the fields, I really want to see these astonishing sites
preserved for other people to discover.
Richard Stroud adds: “I was involved in NADRAP for two years as the Volunteer Coordinator and helped to both set up and run
the CSI:Rombalds Moor project as one of the Project Officers. I’ve also worked extensively to ensure the different sources of
information cross-checked and cross-matched – not a small task! As Anne has been inputting new rock art sites on the Portal,
and updating existing site pages, I’ve been uploading photographs from my archive and from ERA. I’m delighted to say the
Portal now has the most complete database of rock art sites around the UK, along with sites across Europe and beyond.”

Digging deeper
Projects took place this summer at Copt Howe in Cumbria (Richard
Bradley and Aaron Watson) and at Carr Edge in Northumberland
(NOWTAG). You can read about the Carr Edge de-turfing exercise
on page 9 in this issue. We hope to bring more information about
the results of the Copt Howe excavation in the next issue.

Rock art in a sorry state…

Two panels have recently been drawn to our attention. One has sadly suffered from an episode of ‘cleaning’ (or possibly the
perpetrator thought they were undertaking experimental archaeology?); the other is showing signs of increased weathering
despite attempts to keep it covered by turf.
Side Pike, Great Langdale, Cumbria.
First reported by Gabriel Blamires in 2006, this cup-marked
boulder stands beneath the soaring Langdale Pikes, and at the
foot of the pass leading into the neighbouring valley of Little
Langdale from which the stone for Group VI axes were
quarried. It is close to a footpath in an area that appears to
be used for camp fires but it seems someone decided to have
go at deepening some of the 60+ cup marks. Thanks to
Yvonne Luke for spotting it and capturing the images.
Side Pike boulder with fresh peck marks, June 2018.
Barningham Moor 101, County Durham
This complex panel was found by Richard Stroud during the
Northumberland and Durham Rock Art Recording Project in
2006. After recording, it was decided to cover the panel with
turf to protect it, and its exact location was withheld from
public databases. Despite these measures the panel has been
exposed several times over the years. A new recording
exercise is now planned to determine the extent of weather-
ing. Thanks to Chris Scarre for the images. Link to the latest
(low res) 3D model of the panel by Richard Stroud:
https://skfb.ly/6CqFW
Barningham 101. Left, in 2006; right in 2018

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 Issue No. 20: Autumn 2018

WORLD ROCK ART on the WEB

Explore rock art from East Timor, Chile, Iran, and South Africa (All links available without subscription)

The rock art of East Timor

This 2-minute clip of rock art at Tuluala, East Timor, includes some of the oldest
pieces of petroglyphs in the region at Lene Hara Cave, with some up to 12,000
years old. Painted art is also present in the region, thought to be around 3000
years old, and includes images of boats – perhaps those used to travel to the
region.
Video: www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-37764195/east-timor-s-12000-year-old-cave-art

See more images at www.scienceimage.csiro.au/mediarelease/mr11-14.html

Lene Hara Cave. Image: John Brush

Dramatic whale hunts depicted in the Atacama Desert

Writing in the National Geographic, Sarah Gibbens describes the impressive
images—more than 300—showing harpoons and spears used to hunt whales,
swordfish, sea lions, and sharks, and which is around 1,500 years old. Her account
is based on a study published in Antiquity which explored the social context of
three styles of rock art arguing that it was “the organ of pastoralist authority, or
the badge of marginalised hunters or, most often, as the imagery of consensus
masking social inequality”.
Read more at: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/ancient-rock-art-shows-whale-
hunts-atacama-chile-spd/

Whale hunt depicted in the the Izcuña ravine.

Gallardo, F. 2009. Social interaction and rock art styles in the Atacama Desert (northern Image: Benjamin Ballerster.
Chile). Antiquity 83(321), 619-633.

Rock art in north-eastern Iran

The Antiquity Project Gallery highlights work on rock art at Pire Mazar Balandar
(PMB001), near the village of Balandar in NE Iran. The site consists of a volcanic
outcrop on a mountain peak (1532m asl) above the city of Mashhad where an
outcrop, 1.2m wide and 0.75m long, is decorated with 16 symbols including three
axes, a spiral, a double circle, U-shaped lines, a group of curved lines and a
‘question mark’. The site was well known to locals, but only documented in 2015. A
survey of the area in 2016 led to the discovery of another rock art group, Balandar
rock art, with petroglyphs, including zoomorphs and anthropomorphs, engraved on
vertical schist panels, along a small creek.
Read more at: https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.77
Axe motif superimposed over symbols.
Sigari, D., Toghrae, M., & Basafa, H. 2017. Newly discovered rock art sites in Balandar, Image: D. Sigari
Mashhad province, north-eastern Iran. Antiquity 91(357), E8.

The oldest human drawing?

A cross-hatched pattern drawn with an ochre crayon on a small piece of rock is
73,000 years old, pre-dating the earliest previously known abstract drawings by
30,000 years. The find, published online in September in Nature, made news
headlines around the world. In an account in Sci News, lead author Christopher
Henshilwood says: “…these signs were symbolic in nature and represented an
inherent aspect of the behaviourally modern world of these African Homo sapiens,
the ancestors of all of us today.”
Read more at: http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/earliest-drawing-human-blombos-
cave-06408.html
Henshilwood, C.S., d’Errico, F., van Niekerk, K.L., Dayet, L., Queffelec, A. & Pollarolo, L.
The Blombos drawing. Image credit: C. Foster.
2018. An abstract drawing from the 73,000-year-old levels at Blombos Cave, South
Africa. Nature.

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 Issue No. 20: Autumn 2018

New BAR Sub-series on rock art launched

The archaeology of art, and specifically the field of prehistoric art, is experiencing a
renaissance in research activity. Several major research projects and high-profile conference
sessions have been devoted to the topic in recent years. The launch of a new BAR series
devoted to the 'archaeology of prehistoric art' reflects renewed interest in the archaeology of
prehistoric art.

The theoretical and methodological approaches to prehistoric art have undergone a sea
change over the past ten years. The series editors (Prof. Andrew Meirion Jones, University of
Southampton and Dr. Ing-Marie Back Danielsson, Uppsala University) encourage
contributions that take a fresh approach to prehistoric art (particularly new materialist or
post-humanist perspectives) and new methodological or scientific approaches to the analysis
of art (especially new digital methods, or new methods of dating). Having said this, high-
quality contributions of all theoretical and methodological kinds will be considered. The series
will mainly publish excavation or survey monographs, annotated corpora of decorated
artefacts, conference proceedings and doctoral theses, though other forms of publication
may be considered. The geographical scope of the series will be global, and contributions are
encouraged from all regions of the world. The series editors believe that books devoted to
prehistoric art should be well illustrated. Therefore, the series aims to publish in colour, with
colour cover images, and colour images in text. Publication will be in any European
languages, while non-European languages may also be considered.

Contact Series Editors ajm@soton.ac.uk and Commissioning Editor

jacqueline.senior@barpublishing.com to express interest.

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 we’d
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.21: 15th Sept 2019

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 Issue No. 20: Autumn 2018

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 Issue No. 20: Autumn 2018

Robin Hood, Myths and Legends: The Lunedale 'Penny Stone'

Paul and Barbara Brown

While rock art sites have previously

been recorded in Teesdale in County
Durham, the majority are actually
situated in the tributary areas of
Baldersdale, Langleydale, Greta and
Deepdale. During the 1970s, Stewart
Feather from West Yorkshire
discovered several sites in
Baldersdale and the authors
subsequently documented others
along the glacial terraces East-West
to Blake Hill. It seemed logical that
further sites would exist in the upper
reaches of the dale that could
possibly indicate another prehistoric
route into Cumbria. Blake Hill
occupies a depression on the ridge
that separates Baldersdale from
Lunedale and from that point there is
a clear line of vision through Lunedale
towards Nettlepot and Selset
Reservoir.
Figure 2: Robin Hood’s Stone, Lunedale. Image: P. Brown.

We first noted and recorded the Penny Stone in 2010 (Brown

& Brown 2012). It is currently the only site to have been
discovered in Lunedale. It is a massive erratic boulder,
marked on OS Maps as ‘Robin Hood’s Stone’ but known locally
as ‘The Penny Stone’. It is situated at the edge of the now
disused Selset stone quarry (formerly Sleight's Pasture), north
of the B6276 and NNW of Selset Dam. Following extensive
stone extraction, the quarry was closed many years ago, yet
the land has just recently been landscaped.

The glacially-smoothed boulder measures 4.26 x 3.3 x 1.53m

and has over 40 cups of various sizes, including a cup with a
single ring and a number of ‘pecked’ grooves. Several motifs
are eroded, and ‘modern’ initials are carved on three different
sections of the stone.

The location of the stone in the landscape is of particular

interest, being intervisible with the rock art site at Blake Hill
some 3km SE and offering clear views to the summit of
Shacklesborough at 454m OD 5km SSW, a known site of
prehistoric activity. From Lune Head farm, a small stone circle
is visible alongside the modern road that possibly indicates the
line of an ancient track predating the current route. The
B6276 crosses the watershed at the head of the valley and
runs down into the Upper Eden valley into Cumbria at
Swindale where it branches and leads to North Stainmore,
where the closest known rock art lies at Leonard’s Crag some
750m SW.

Figure 2: Robin Hood’s Stone, Lunedale. Recording by

P. Brown.

Despite an extensive search for information on the stone, little could be found except for the following reference in a 19th
century journal:

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 Issue No. 20: Autumn 2018

‘Robin Hood’s Stone’

Fitzhugh, 1899

'Lunedale. In the corner of a field, on the right of the road

between Nettlepot and Wemmergill, is an immense mass
of rock, very similar to the celebrated rocking stones of
Derbyshire and Cornwall, and known as Robin Hood's
Stone. The local tradition about it is this. Once upon a
time Robin Hood and his men were amusing themselves
on the top of Shacklesborough, when the bold outlaw
picked up a very large stone, placed it upon the toes of his
right foot, and after swinging it backward and forward
twice or thrice, tilted it with amazing force in the
direction of Lunedale. As it went spinning through the air
a portion detached itself and fell to the ground in Kelton.
The remaining piece sped on all the faster for that
incident, and at last alighted in its present position in
Sleight's Pasture, and has ever since been called Robin
Hood's Stone.' Figure 3: Robin Hood’s Stone, Lunedale. Image: P. Brown.

Like many heroes of myth and legend, Robin Hood was believed to possess
supernatural powers. If this were true he must have been the ‘superman’
of his day since the stone in question is over 4m in length and weighs
many tons, so throwing it represented a Herculean feat of epic proportion.

In folklore at least, it appears that Robin spent less time in his home
territory of Sherwood Forest than subsequent stories and films suggest. He
is alleged to have visited numerous places throughout Northern Britain and
there are a multitude of spurious claims that he was buried in any number
of graves throughout Britain. There are many areas, some with links to the
prehistoric period, that claim reference to the famous 'Robin of Sherwood’.
An example is Harthill Moor in the Derbyshire Peak District where outcrops
of gritstone rocks known as Robin Hood's Stride are located. It is alleged
that the distance between two outer pinnacles—named 'Weasel' and
'Inaccessible'—is around 75ft, a truly giant leap. The rock art here consists
of a deep pecked ring 25cm in diameter, along with an area of faint
pecking in the centre and outer edge (Barnet & Reeder 1982).

The Robin Hood Stone, Allerton, Liverpool, is a 2.4 m standing stone

thought to be a remnant of the Calderstones. It was relocated in 1928 from
Stone Hey field to its present position at the intersection between Booker
and Archerfield roads. The area of rock art is believed to have been buried
however an old photograph from ca. 1910 (Figure 4) highlights the
carvings on the stone's lower section, showing a minimum of fourteen cup
marks of which three are surrounded by rings.
Figure 4: The Robin Hood Stone, Allerton, Liverpool.

References

Barnet, J. & P. Reeder. 1982. Prehistoric rock art in the Peak District, The Derbyshire Archaeological Journal C11: 33–44.
Brown, P. 1999. In search of the Howgill Stone, The Teesdale Record Society Journal 3rd Series 7: 12–16.
Brown, P. & B. Brown. 2008. Prehistoric rock art in the Northern Dales, Stroud: Tempus, 79–166.
Brown, B. & P. Brown. 2012. A recent discovery of prehistoric rock art in Lunedale, Teesside Archaeological Society Bulletin no17.
Feather, S. 1966-1981. Yorkshire Archaeological Register, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 41,42,43,52.
Fitzhugh. 1899. ‘Robin Hood’s Stone’ County Folklore, Vol. 2 edited Mrs. Gutch. Published for the Folk-Lore Society XLV by David Nutt,
London, 1901.

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 Issue No. 20: Autumn 2018

ROCK ART READS: new and forthcoming publications

Design and connectivity. The Transforming the landscape: rock

case of Atlantic rock art, Joana art and the Mississippian Cosmos,
Valdez-Tullett, BAR Series, £36 Carol Diaz-Granados (Editor); Jan
Coming soon Simek (Editor); George Sabo
ISBN: 9781407316628 (Editor); Mark Wagner (Editor),
Oxbow Books, American Landscape
‘Original and illuminating. The book Vol 4. £38 (paperback)
sheds exciting new light on a ISBN: 9781785706288
complex and controversial topic and
takes Atlantic rock art from the A selection of landscape cosmo-
periphery into the centre of grams from North America and
contemporary research.’ Richard Europe are examined and an
Bradley, Emeritus Professor, overview of American Indian
University of Reading. cosmographic landscapes provided
to illustrate their centrality to indigenous religious traditions
 www.barpublishing.com/design-and-connectivity.html
across North America.
 www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/transforming-the-landscape.html

DATES for your DIARY: forthcoming conferences and other events

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

10th November 2018 Archaeology in the Lake District 2018, Rheged, Penrith.
Langdale revisited: new fieldwork at Copt Howe. Professor Richard Bradley and D Aaron
Watson
For the full programme and to apply for tickets please call 01539 724555 or visit
http:/www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/learning/archaeologyhistory/archaeologyconference

23rd-24th November 2018 5th Annual conference of the Neolithic and Early Bronze
Age Research Student Symposium (NEBARSS), University of Manchester.

Hosting talks by postgraduate and early career researchers within a friendly and relaxed
environment, the conference extends a welcome to all those interested in the Neolithic and
Early Bronze Age periods.

Early Bird Rate £10, then £12. To book https://nebarss.wordpress.com/category/nebarss-2018/

Contact sarah.botfield@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk with any queries

29th November 2018, 7:30pm Talk for Ayshire Archaeological and Natural History
Society (all welcome). Ayr Town Hal. Scotland's Rock Art Project

6th March 2019, 8pm Prehistoric Society Lecture, Crawford Art Gallery, Crawford Art
Gallery, Cork.
Visions and revisions: Langdale axes, rock art and the Neolithic of Britain and Ireland, Prof
Richard Bradley.

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 Issue No. 20: Autumn 2018

‘Excavation’ at Carr Edge, Northumberland

Andy Curtis

I first visited Carr Edge Farm to look at

the rock art over 20 years ago, the main
focus being Carr Hill a, an outcrop of
sandstone sporting a cup with multiple
rings and another smaller cup and multi-
ring motif; both motifs have radial
grooves (Figure 1). It had been
recorded by Stan Beckensall. A nice
panel of rock art for a location in south
Northumberland, south of Hadrian’s Wall
in the crook of land north of the South
Tyne and west of the North Tyne rivers.
It must have been exposed to the
elements for a long time but had been
well carved. It had survived weathering
and the quarrymen operating nearby. I
also learned how the motifs, both on
one end of the outcrop, can vanish in
flat light and come alive in the rare
strong sunny days of winter with the
sun low in the sky, particularly after
rain.

The few other panels previously

recorded in the vicinity of Carr Hill a
were not so exciting: cups which didn’t
always seem definitely artificial, on
outcrops with signs of quarry activity.
Carr Hill d with its multiple cups above a
high quarry face perhaps an exception.
Figure 1: Carr Hill a viewed in winter sun. A Curtis (2016).
There is higher land to both south and north and the panel lies close to the high point of a col between two deep valleys, North
Tyne in the east and Meggie’s Dene Burn in the west. An ancient routeway perhaps. Could there also be an association with a
spring located in the arable field just south of the panel? Views are limited but Warden Hill with its large hill fort and prominent
location above the river valleys is clear to the south-east. Being there feels nice – it does at many rock art sites – is it
geography or prehistory? Stan’s ‘Power of Place’?

“The Mason says:

Rocks happen by chance.
No-one here bolts the door.
Love is so sore.”
Briggflatts by Basil Bunting
(1972)

NADRAP Discoveries, 2005

In 2005, on a rocky knoll 200m north-
east of Carr Hill a, a team of the
Northumberland & Durham Rock Art
Project (NADRAP) made two new
discoveries. Carr Hill 9 is a boulder
sloping steeply into the ground. With
only one cup visible above its turf cover,
the team carefully revealed an array of
cups and grooves (Figure 2). It is a
stone that seemed to blur the distinction
between natural erosion features and
rock art. Our finding of distinctive peck
Figure 2: Carr Hill 9 capture from 3D model. A.Curtis. marks in the two lower-most cups
shows that this was not natural. How
could I ever have doubted it?

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 Issue No. 20: Autumn 2018

The most amazing find of the NADRAP team

was Carr Hill 10, the ‘little man’, an incised
warrior figure about 30cm long, on a flat
sandstone slab, holding a square shield in
one hand and a spear in the other (Figures 3
and 4). Close by was another fainter figure (a
different shape—female perhaps—with facial
features) and a group of linear grooves
terminated by small cups. Figurative art is
not common in Neolithic and Bronze Age rock
art in the UK and the figure was identified
with the Romano-British god, Cocidius. The
grooves below were tentatively identified as
two letters, C and M, possibly equating
Cocidius with Mars.

Figure 3: Carr Hill 10: Cocidius, faint attendant and grooves. NADRAP (2005)

NOWTAG Project, 2018

Figure 4: Cocidius in gold: capture from 3D
model with artificial surface and lighting
With the permission of the landowner and assistance of professional
archaeologists, this knoll was the location of a deturfing project this summer by
Tynedale North of the Wall Community Archaeology Group. Our aims were to
investigate these and other turf covered outcrops nearby to see if we could
find more rock art, investigate a spread of stones on the east slope as evidence
of a possible cairn, and investigate evidence of quarrying, particularly if it could
be proved to be Roman.

The knoll itself shows clear signs of small-scale quarrying for sandstone, hollows on the west side and close to the summit, and
straight cuts running along low outcrops, but when this was done is not clear.

A large number of roughly squared blocks must have been cut somewhere for the well-built drystone walls bordering our field,
presumably dating from times of land enclosure. Apart from the rock art, the only possible prehistoric features we had located
nearby were a limited set of field boundaries on the slope due north, beyond the broad rig and furrow ploughing that almost
surrounds the knoll. Gorse cover and a dead sheep made our efforts unpleasant at times; the turf was dry and difficult to cut,
hindered by our use of non-metal tools to avoid any possibility of damage.

We also wanted to see if we could use photogrammetry as a suitable tool to visualise faintly carved figures with no contact of
the rock surface and a possible means to avoid the vagaries of natural light. Our 3D models can all be viewed on the NOWTAG
account on Sketchfab (https://sketchfab.com/andrewcurtis53).

Hooded men?
A new group of carvings, barely visible in flat or overhead light made an appearance
due north of Cocidius, incised only faintly on a flat rock surface at a slightly lower
level (Figures 5, 6 and Figure 7:2). We have had inklings of other faint carvings on
the same rock but had been unable to confirm whether they are real and not
random associations of markings on the surface. Photogrammetry didn’t help. If
they are incised figures they are not at the level of simple visualisation.

The width of the carving around the head of the right-hand figure (see Figure 5)
gives rise to a question of whether this figure may be hooded. It has been
speculatively suggested that the group may be a depiction of the Genii Cucullati, or
Hooded Spirits that are found across the Romano-Celtic territory between Britain
and Pannonia.

A few miles NW of our site, a relief carving of three hooded figures was found at
Housesteads Roman Fort. Less than two miles away, at the head of Meggie’s Dene
Burn, lies Coventina's Well, adjacent to Brocolitia Roman Fort, where an altar to
Figure 5: 3D model of new faint figures in
triple water deities was excavated. Photos of both can be seen at https://archaeology- Area I, N of ‘Cocidius’. Are there three
travel.com/photo-album/stone-sculpture-on-hadrians-wall/
figures here or just two?

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 Issue No. 20: Autumn 2018

Photogrammetry using close-up photographs

can prove a useful technique to examine the
fainter carvings. It does allow visualisation
independent of natural lighting but is still
dependant on interpretation by eye and brain
which are easily deceived. A comparison of
the same figure imaged using raking light
photography is also useful (Figure 6). I have
even wondered if the figure in the capture on
the left is sporting a large phallus (as big as
himself) and some kind of headdress!
Perhaps that just says more about me!

Figure 6: Left: capture of 3D model of new

figures in Area I and Right: the figures shown in
raking light photography by C Namirski
Alterations?
Close examination of the 3D model of de-turfed Area I (Figure 7) suggest the rock surface north of Cocidius may have been
artificially altered. Firstly, there is a step down of 2-3cm from the surface which carries the warrior figure, a ledge that curves
down from the NW corner of the area and then runs on a straighter course to the SE edge. Several areas of rock appear to be
marked with small circular depressions (‘peck marks’) and there is a large scallop-edged hollow resembling an incomplete basin
at the NE corner. Has something been removed from the surface? If so, what was there before, why and when was it done?
Could there have been cup and ring style rock art here?

Our only evidence for such speculation are the

two cup marks found in the centre of the slab,
possible the remnants of their incomplete
removal on a slightly higher surface of the
outcrop. The old problem of natural verses
artificial, writ large. Rocks don’t happen by
chance, but are subject to erosion by ice, freeze
thaw weathering and what people think of doing
to them. The supposed ‘letters’ below the
Cocidius carving could also be interpreted as cup
and groove rock art of a much earlier tradition.

Excavation of the rock art site at Hunterheugh

Crag in Northumberland (Waddington et al 2005)
identified that part of the rock surface apparently
below a Bronze Age cairn was heavily quarried
and earlier rock art removed, possibly for reuse
in Bronze Age funerary contexts. New and cruder Figure 7: 3D model of deturfed Area I annotated:
motifs had been carved on the fresh stone 1 'Cocidius'; 2 new group of figures; 3 cup marks;
surfaces. However, both periods of carving did 4 peck marks; 5 scooped depression
conform to a cup and ring tradition and this is
clearly not the case at Carr Edge.

Our putative cairn site seemed a lot less like a cairn when the turf was removed. More like a random stone scatter, possibly
associated with quarrying activity showing as scooped hollows just to the west. We did find deep, linear grooves in some of the
de-turfed areas which could have been artificially made but to no obvious intention or pattern. There was some evidence for
quarrying in one or two areas, but hand quarrying techniques have changed little since Roman times and reveal nothing of their
date. Later quarrying also often obscures evidence of earlier episodes.

David Shepherd & Frank Jolley (2016) describe unexplained grooves found in sandstone surfaces in the South Pennines and
their numerous unsuccessful attempts to secure an archaeological or geological explanation. Some grooves appeared to be
associated with ‘cupules’. A theory from Australia suggested they could have been created by the friction of tree roots. The
question of ‘natural or artificial?’ is always going to be a problem in such circumstances and there seems no way that the
alternatives can be tested. I find my scepticism about single cups or a few cups and grooves remains. I’ve seen too many
‘natural’ cups, basins and grooves on flat rock surfaces: I still need a couple of surrounding rings to get me out of the bed in a
morning! Like the peck marks in the lower cups, I’m always the first to be pleased when proved wrong. Love is so sore.

This article leans heavily on the draft report of our ‘excavation’ for which I have to thank Phil Bowyer (Chairman of NOWTAG) and Jon
Welsh (AAG Archaeology) as well as all the other professionals and amateur volunteers who took part. The personal views, mistakes,
omissions (and some of the wild conjecture) are of course all mine.

References
Waddington, C., B. Johnson, & A. Mazel. 2005. Excavation of a rock art site at Hunterheugh Crag, Northumberland. Archaeologica
Aeliana 5th Series, 34: 29–54.
Shepherd, D. & F. Jolley. 2016. Strange grooves in the Pennines, United Kingdom. Rock Art Research: The Journal of the Australian
Rock Art Research Association 33(1): 89–97.
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 Issue No. 20: Autumn 2018

Rock Art Abstracts: Headlines from recent journal papers. What are researchers currently thinking
about? (Full papers may not be available without subscription)
://www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=33778

2.5D and 3D recording of
Scandinavian rock art
This paper argues that 2.5D and 3D
methods—Reflectance Transformation
Imaging (RTI), Structure from Motion
(SfM), and Optical Laser Scanning
(OLS)—should all be used as standard
documentation techniques. (Open
Access)
Horn, C., Ling, J., Bertilsson, U., &
Potter, R. 2018. By all means
necessary – 2.5D and 3D recording of
surfaces in the study of Southern
Scandinavian rock art. Open
Archaeology, 4(1): 81–96.
https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2018-0005
Augmented reality for rock art
sites
A comparative study of Vuforia and
ARToolKit augmented reality app
libraries based on natural feature
tracking indicates that for complex
outdoor environments such as rock
art sites the ARToolKit performs
better.
Blanco-Pons, S., Carrión-Ruiz, B.
& Lerma, J.L. 2018. Augmented
reality application assessment for
disseminating rock art. Multimedia
Tools & Applications: 1–22.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-018-6609-x
Rock art and tourism in Ethiopia
This study addresses the role of rock
art tourism for sustainable socio-
economic development in Harar –
Dire Dawa in South Eastern Ethiopia.
It identifies challenges and examines
trends including preparing a code of
conduct.
Senbeto, D.L. 2018. Potential and
challenges of rock art for sustainable
tourism development: The case of
Harar - Dire Dawa region, South
Eastern Ethiopia. Journal of
Hospitality Management and Tourism,
9(4), 36–47.
https://doi.org/10.5897/JHMT2016.0174

Prospecting for rock art in India
This research uses GIS with a multi-
criteria decision support system and
fuzzy logic to identify possible rock art
sites over the Vindhyan Plateau in the
district of Mirzapur, Central India. The
methodology compares favourably with
results with data from field surveys of
>40 rock-shelters in the region.
Banerjee, R.; Srivastava, P.K.;
Pike, A.W.G.; Petropoulos, G.P.
2018. Identification of painted rock-
shelter sites using GIS integrated with
a decision support system and fuzzy
logic. ISPRS International Journal of
Geo-Information 7(8): 326.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi7080326

 Weapons and violence in rock art
A new Springer title in the series Quantitative Methods in the Humanities and
Social Sciences considers prehistoric warfare and violence; it contains four
chapters using rock art to explore the subject.
Dolfini, A., Crellin, R.J., Horn, C., Uckelmann, M. (ed.) 2018. Prehistoric
warfare and violence. Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative
Methods in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Springer.
https://www.springer.com/gb/book/9783319788272
Ch. 5: López-Montalvo, E. War and peace in Iberian prehistory: the chronology
and interpretation of the depictions of violence in Levantine rock art
Ch. 6: Bertilsson, U. “In the beginning there was the spear”: digital
documentation sheds new light on Early Bronze Age spear carvings from Sweden
Ch7: Horn, C.Fast like a war canoe: pragmamorphism in Scandinavian rock art
Ch 8: Ling, J., Chacon, R., & Chacon, Y. Rock art, secret societies, long-
distance exchange, and warfare in Bronze Age Scandinavia

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