Northern Earth - Rock Round-up

NEW INSIGHTS INTO ROCK ART by Mike Haigh from Northern Earth 65

As our readers will be aware, Northern Britain is rich in examples of cup-and-ring markings. Their abstract nature makes it difficult for us to understand their meaning, if indeed they ever had one. Recently, however, archaeologists are starting to gather some insights into the nature and purpose of rock art by studying its position within the landscape (see, for instance, 'Rights of Passage - Swedish Rock Art' in NE 63).

If there is any meaning behind rock art then its location and form should be consistent and predictable. New studies of such art in northern Britain and Scotland seem to fulfil these criteria. The organisation of cup-and-ring marks within the landscape seems to follow a few simple rules.

Rock art is usually found inscribed upon the horizontal or gently sloping surfaces of boulders or rock outcrops. In general, it has been found that the least complex motifs are on boulders, and the most complex on rock outcrops, such as the Pancake Stone on Ilkley Moor. Furthermore, the inscribed boulders tend to appear on lower ground, near permanent settlements, while complex designs are usually on higher, seasonally exploited, terrain. These complex outcrops, it may be argued, have three main functions.

Firstly, they seem to mark the boundary of a settlement. It has also been suggested that since these motifs are also found on religious monuments and ceramics, they could also be ritual protection devices for the valley dwellers.

Secondly, in those areas where the valley residents maintain a large-scale ritual landscape, the decorated outcrops mark the main routes into the ritual area. Along the principal route to the Milfield Basin in Northumberland, it has been found that each major decorated rock is intervisible from the next, so that travellers are led towards this important henge complex. One of the outcrops marking the approach to Kilmartin Glen has the same unusual motif as found on the Temple Wood stone circle at the centre of the ritual area.

Thirdly, types of rock art appear to be associated with certain distinctive topographical features. At the coast, a certain style of an is apparently associated with natural harbours and landing places, while inland the same style is found near lakes and rivers. In SW Scotland, some of the most complex designs are found near to waterholes (reaffirming the curious similarity of these British markings with the art of Aboriginal Australians, also strongly linked to waterholes and seen as places of the emergence of spirits and deities - JB). Other features marked by outcrop art are mountain passes, rock shelters and waterfalls.

[Adapted from 'Making Sense of Prehistoric Art', Richard Bradley, British Archaeology, Nov. 1995 pp 8-9]