Issue No 16: Autumn 2016

Issue No.16: October 2016

Dear All,
A short but significant issue this Autumn, announcing a fantastic new project in Scotland which should provide plenty of
opportunities for involvement in rock art recording, building on the success of previous community based projects. Dont forget:
if you are involved in any rock art related activities and would like to share your experiences just drop me a line.
Kate
October 2016
kesharpe@outlook.com

Contents:

New British discoveries: George Curries latest find from Perth and Kinross ............................................... 1
British rock art news: lost and found in Scotland, Northumberland and Cumbria ....................................... 2

World rock art on the web: international news and links ........................................................................... 5

Brag in Liverpool: review by Jonty R. Trigg ............................................................................................. 6

Rock art abstracts: headlines from the journals ........................................................................................ 7

Chasing the butterflies of Brodgar by K. Sharpe ................................................................................... 8

Rock art reads ......................................................................................................................................... 9

Dates for the diary ................................................................................................................................. 10

Inspired by rock art ............................................................................................................................... 10

NEW BRITISH DISCOVERIES

George Currie has been busy again detecting new panels in Perth & Kinross, Scotland. Meet him in person in his interview with
Dalya Alberge in The Guardian at www.theguardian.com/science/2016/sep/17/rock-art-amateur-archaeologist-scotland
As always, grid references are not included but the locations of all panel references are recorded on Canmore and the relevant
HER database.
Corrymuckloch
Found near
Corrymuckloch
Farmhouse, this
panel has 26 cup
marks, at least 10 of
which have single
rings.
Cochno (Glasgow)

Coire Thaochaidh

George visited Cochno

to see the recently
uncovered motifs (see
p. 2), and whilst there
spotted this previously
unrecorded panel just
250 m away on an
obvious outcrop.

A prominent rock proved

worth investigating. See
more on The Modern

Antiquarian:

George notes that the preservation and depth of the markings is unequalled among the other 20 marked rocks in the area including those
under turf. Images of the area and his own recollection suggest that
the rock was moved to its present position sometime after a track to a
nearby pylon was removed i.e. post Spring 2014.

www.themodernantiquarian.
com/site/17891/coire_thaoch
aidh.html

Tullichuil 02
Another impressive panel to
add to the Perth & Kinross
record.

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Issue No 16: Autumn 2016

BRITISH ROCK ART NEWS: Projects, publications, and people

In this issue we report a sad loss suspected in Northumberland, but two previously lost items are rediscovered. We also bring
you fantastic news for rock art north of the border.

Scotlands rock art in the spotlight

In January 2017, Historic Environment Scotland is launching a new five-year project, funded by the Arts and Humanities
Research Council, to improve our understanding of Scottish rock art.
Scotland contains over a third of all known prehistoric cup and ring
marked rocks in Britain, including some of the largest and most
elaborate panels, and has been the focus of several recent
excavations of rock art panels. Building on the successes of recent
community-based projects (NADRAP, CSI, ACCORD), and inspired by
the findings of the Ross-shire Rock Art Project and enthusiastic local
amateur specialists, the Scotlands Rock Art Project will work with
community groups to record and research rock art across the whole
of Scotland.
The aim is to compile a comprehensive database of the 2400 panels
currently known in Scotland using a suite of techniques, including
photogrammetry RTI (Reflectance Transformance Imaging). The
database will enable the panels and motifs to be analysed in relation
to their contexts, in order to investigate how the rock art landscape
in Scotland has been shaped through time by changing social values
and actions.
The project will be led by Dr Tertia Barnett, with co-investigators
from Glasgow School of Art Digital Design Studio (Dr Stuart Jeffery),
and Edinburgh University School of History, Classics and Archaeology
(Dr Guillaume Robin), and project partners Archaeology Scotland,
Kilmartin Museum, and the North of Scotland Archaeology Society.

Detailed drawing of Achnabreck RCAHMS.

Canmore 414486

Achnabreck RCAHMS. Canmore 336486

Contact for further information: Tertia.Barnett@ed.ac.uk

See also:
BBC News at www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-36671897
The Guardian at www.theguardian.com/science/2016/sep/17/rock-art-amateur-archaeologist-scotland

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Issue No 16: Autumn 2016

Cochno Stone fully revealed with help from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service!
In RA14 (Autumn 2015) we reported on a trial excavation to assess the condition of the Cochno Stone on the outskirts of
Glasgow. Ken Brophy and a team from the University of Glasgow found that the panel was buried less deeply than claimed,
and the wall surrounding it had partially collapsed or been pushed over.
Recommendations were then made to fully expose the stone. Work finally began on 5th
September and the large surface was uncovered, revealing an incredible array of
motifs. Students spent a week removing hundreds of tonnes of mud then a fire crew
was brought in to wash the sandstone!
The joint project between the
Archaeology Department and the
Factum Foundation for Digital
Technology in Conservation will
gather high-resolution data of the
stone's surface before reburying it.
They hope to produce a life-size copy
of the 8 13 m surface.

The muddy motifs emerge

Fire hoses are directed onto the slab

A detailed account together with a fascinating history of The Cochno Stone can be
found at
https://theurbanprehistorian.wordpress.com/2015/09/27/the-cochno-stone-exposed/
See more images from BBC Scotland at:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-37340378 and

The cleaned motifs catch the light!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-37290979

MISSING! Iconic rock art panel from Northumberland

Reliable sources report that the rock art panel known as 'Beanley Moor 1' was removed from the moor in Northumberland
earlier this year. The slab measures 1.1 x 0.5 x 0.1 m, and is estimated to weigh around 125 kg (275 lb) so that moving it
would be no casual operation. Sadly, though, it lay close to a footpath, and just 500 m from the nearest road.
This incredible example of Northumberland rock art was recorded by
NADRAP volunteers in 2006 and detailed information, images, and 3D
models can be found on the Englands Rock Art database under record no.
ERA 1097:
http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/era/section/panel/media.jsf?eraId=1097
The panel is described as:

An amazingly well-preserved panel which has been covered

by turf and heather cover and little disturbed. As an
example of detailed cup and penannular design in pristine
condition it is almost without peer.
(More in the ERA record)

Beanley Moor 1 by Brian Kerr

As can be seen in the ERA sketch, the panel was largely covered by
turf. This was very carefully peeled back in order to capture the full
extent of the panel but was then replaced to preserve the motifs and
protect the panel.
The panel had become something of an icon,
featuring on the cover of the Mazel, Nash and
Waddington publication Art as Metaphor.
Unfortunately, it was not protected by
Scheduling like the nearby Ringses Iron Age
hillfort.
Northumberland County Archaeologist Sara
Rushton is currently investigating.

Beanley Moor 1 field sketch by NADRAP Team

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Issue No 16: Autumn 2016

New member of the Neolithic figurine gang

In RA9 (Summer 2013) we rounded up a gallery of seven British Neolithic figurines, to illustrate
a different form of rock art (although admittedly, not all were fashioned from stone). In an
early version of the article there was an eighth member of the gang. Only a sketch was available
of this figure, drawn by antiquarian George Petrie. It had been discovered by William G. Watt,
the local laird, when excavating a stone bed compartment in House 3 of the Neolithic village of
Skara Brae. It was described in an 1867 report by Petrie, but its whereabouts were a mystery so
the figurine was omitted from the RA article. Earlier this year, however, the missing figure was
rediscovered in the collections of Stromness Museum, identified Dr David Clarke among artefacts
donated without provenance in the 1930s: Amazingly, we found it in the last box of the day.

Ive always thought this figurine to be lost forever so seeing it staring back at me from its bed of
tissue paper was completely unexpected and very exciting.
The Skara Brae Buddo is carved from whalebone and is 9.5cm tall. It has eyes, a mouth, and a
navel. Holes through the head and body may have been used to suspend the figurine. It is
currently on display at the museum along with Petries notes and sketches.

The Skara Brae Buddo

The Skara Brae Buddo takes his place with the rest of the gang. From left to right: Links of Noltland (head missing), Brodgar Boy,
Westray Wifie, Skara Brae Budda, Links of Noltland, Grimestone Girlie, God Dolly, Windmill Hill (headless), Not shown to scale.

Lake District volunteers learn about rock art

Given the continuing discoveries of rock art in the central Lake District, this summer the National Park Authority decided to
brief their volunteers on the subject, so they can keep their eyes open when out and about on the fells. Your Ed teamed up
with rock art researcher and Volunteer Supervisor, Pete Style, to spend a day in Grasmere with them. After a briefing in the
Village Hall, we took a look at the impressive cup marked outcrop in the adjacent Broadgate Park, where the cups seem to
be focussed around intersecting fissures. Like many of the Lakeland panels this site is in the valley bottom.
The group then visited a second, similar outcrop in the
gardens of Allan Bank, once the home of William
Wordsworth, and later of National Trust founder, Canon
Rawnsley. Both panels are very typical of the wedge-shaped,
glacially-formed outcrops on which cup marks have been
found in Lakeland. Some have more than a hundred cups,
which tend to be scattered along the highest part of the
smooth slope.

Allan Bank cup-marked outcrop

Cup-marks at Allan Bank.

We then moved on to a very different example of rock art at

Copt Howe near the village of Chapel Stile in Great Langdale.
Here the motifs are pecked onto the vertical face of a
massive block of volcanic tuff. The only cup-marks in
evidence are natural geological hollows created by the
weathering of inclusions. The people drawn to this rock in
prehistory may have believed otherwise when they added
their multiple rings, chevrons, and areas of pecking, and
perhaps gazed up the valley towards the peaks from where
they quarried the precious stone for their axes.
Hopefully the volunteers are now well trained as rock art
spotters and will soon be adding their own discoveries to the
growing corpus of Cumbrian rock art sites.

Copt Howe in Great Langdale

To find out more about the Lake District National Park

Archaeology Volunteers see:
http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/caringfor/volunteering/archaeologyvol
unteers
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Issue No 16: Autumn 2016

WORLD ROCK ART on the WEB

News from Norway, Chile, Australia and China

Helpful Norwegian kids improve rock art!

Two mischievous boys have confessed to ruining 5000-year-old rock art on the
island of Tro, off the coast of northern Norway. But they claim to have had the best
of intentions, aiming to make the carving easier to see!
When a local resident reported the vandalism the boys quickly came forward,
offering a public apology. They explained that they had used a sharp object to
deepen the lines of the carvingof a person on skisbut their contrition was not
enough for some Norwegians, who vented their anger on social media. The boys
are reportedly in danger of being prosecuted under Norways Cultural Heritage Act
and Nordland County archaeologist Tor-Kristian Storvik told The Telegraph that he
had no intention of withdrawing the criminal complaint made over the damage.
Source: www.techly.com.au/2016/08/19/norwegian-kids-tried-improve-5000-year-old-rock-art/

Photo: Nordland Fylkeskommune.

Chilean project records new art with regional variations

For the past five years archaeologists have been recording a series of new rock art
discoveries in Chiles Limari Valley. Using high-resolution cameras and specialised
software, researchers detected more than 150 paintings consisting mainly of
colourful lines, circles and squares.
The art is thought to have been created by hunter-gatherers between 2000 BC and
500 AD. The study results, published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology,
suggest that the paintings belong to different groups of pre-Hispanic people, some
from the coast and others from the mountains. Coastal art included parallel lines
not present in the mountains, where the artists used a greater variety of colours.
The study suggests that the paintings helped generate a sense of identity and
belonging within communities.
Source: www.scientificamerican.com/article/archaeologists-identify-more-than-150-rock-artpaintings-in-chile/

Rock art in Valle del Limari, Coquimbo Region,

Chile. Credit: Andrs Troncoso

Wasp nests used to date ice age rock art in Australia

After a three-year-long project, archaeologists have dated what they say "may be
the longest, most impressive rock art sequence anywhere in the world".
Rock art in Australias northwest Kimberley dates to the Palaeolithic era, according
to a team of researchers who documented, analysed, and dated more than 200
rock art sites in the region with different dating techniques. Optically stimulated
luminescence was used to date sand grains found in fossilised mud wasp nests built
over the ancient images. Accelerator mass spectrometry was also used to date the
carbon in the wasp nests and in spots of beeswax found on the images. The oldest
image in the study, a perfectly preserved, yam-like motif painted in mulberry
coloured ochre on the ceiling of a deep cavern was found to have a minimum age
of 16,000 years.
Read more at: www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-01/rock-art-in-kimberley-dated/7805262

The 16,000-year-old yam-like motif. Picture: Perth

Now.

Severe flooding destroys Chinese rock art

Rare flooding in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwest China has
damaged some of the thousands of prehistoric rock art on the cliffs of Helan
Mountain. The mountain has around 20,000 images scattered over several hundred
kilometres. They are thought to have been created by nomads who lived in the
area between 3,000 and 10,000 years ago, and depict their activities.
Some of the images were damaged by mud and silt, and about a dozen carvings on
individual rocks were carried away by the flood waters. Others were lost when
layers of mountain rock peeled off or cracked in the heavy rains. Hu Zhiping,
deputy director of the Helan Mountain Cliff Painting Administration, said that the
extent of the damage is still being assessed.
Source: http://www.china.org.cn/china/2016-08/26/content_39169375_2.htm
Photo: Xinhua

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Issue No 16: Autumn 2016

BRAG in LIVERPOOL 2016

Reviewed by Jonty R. Trigg

The British Rock Art Group was founded and had its inaugural conference in Cambridge in 2003. Thirteen years on, the annual
conference is still going, stronger than ever, and attracting leading academics and professionals from major institutions acr oss
the world. Hosted for the first time by the University of Liverpool over the 3rd-4th September 2016, matters discussed included
the nature of rock art, what it means, and ways of investigating it.
The two-day event was organised by
Anthony Sinclair and the author
(University of Liverpool) with the cooperation of Ron Cowell and Liz
Stewart (Museum of Liverpool). It
provided an important opportunity for
academics to make contacts within
the field, and included colleagues
from the United Kingdom, Canada,
Russia, Australia, the United States
and Kenya. In addition to this, several
of the papers provided a space for
postgraduate and early career
researchers to discuss and identify the
questions they are examining. The
research presented by all was both
innovative and inter-disciplinary, and
surely served to shape the future of
the field.

Mazel went on to argue that other

factors equally contribute to the
significance of the region, including
the polychrome and trance figures.
The production of images in the Altai
mountains formed the focus of the
next paper. Ekaterina Devlet
(Russian Academy of Sciences)
discussed the portrayal of varying
motifs on grave slabs from the Bronze
and Early Iron Age, arguing that the
rock art was sometimes deliberately
disregarded when used in the
construction of the graves.

The second day was comprised of four

sessions. Josephine Flood, emeritus
faculty at the Australian National
University,
opened
with
a
contextualising presentation on the
Aboriginal rock art of Australia. The
earliest picked art is made up of
predominantly circles, cup marks,
abraded grooves, and faunal tracks,
whereas the earliest painted art is of
stencils, and hand and grass prints.
This is followed by figurative art
comprised of both human and
megafaunal figures. Holocene art can
be seen to be markedly different from
that of the Pleistocene which, Flood
asserted, is related to changes in
environment and toolkits.

The conference opened with a field

trip, beginning with a viewing of the
Museum of Liverpool led by Ron
Cowell, the Curator of Prehistoric
Archaeology. This was followed by a
trip to the remains of the Neolithic
passage grave known as The
Calderstones, where George Nash
delivered a lecture on its history.
Destroyed in the mid-nineteenth
century, only six decorated stones
remain. The trip concluded with a
private viewing of some recently
discovered rock art from Willaston on
the Wirral Peninsula in north west
England.

The Australian connection was

furthered by Jamie Hampson
(University of Western Australia,
Stanford University and University of
York) in his paper on the Murujuga
images of Western Australia, including
significantly early human faces. The
carvings may date to 10,000 years BP.
Hampsons paper advocated that,
despite political, social and economic
tensions between various interest
groups, there was a sense of optimism
for the future.
Reflecting on a similarly significant
region, this time for San art, Aron
Mazel from Newcastle University
discussed the material from Didima
Gorge, South Africa. Providing a wide
range of statistical evidence relating
to the vast numbers of images here,

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Cezary Namirski from Durham

University examined the rock art of
the province of Ogliastra, Sardinia, in
which cup and cup-and-ring marks,
and anthropomorphic figures, can be
found in a variety of landscape
locations. Using the associations of
many of the rock art panels with
Neolithic and Chalcolithic monuments,
Namirski discussed the chronology of
the monuments.
Christine Ogola and Emmanuel
Ndiema (National Museums of
Kenya) considered the identification
of rock art from the site of Kakapel,
where a variety of style and artistic
traditions are represented. Their
paper identified the disparity in depths
of archaeological material from
Kakapel and other rock art sites in the
region, suggesting that Kakapel was
the hub of rock art production.
George Nash (University of Bristol)
discussed a probable Late Upper
Palaeolithic carving of a member of
the cervid family at Cathole Cave, a
limestone cave in the Gower Peninsula
of South Wales. Among the data
provided was the presentation of date
of 12,572 +/- 600 years BP for the
immediately overlying flowstone,
while a neighbouring sample provided
a date of 14,505 +/- 879 years BP.
Katie Mills from the University of
Manchester presented observations of
differing public perceptions of two
rock art sitesone genuine and one
replicain relation to the preservation
of sites endangered by weathering.
Her study, which forms the basis of
her PhD research, considered the sites
of Lordenshaw, Northumberland, and
Gardoms Edge, Derbyshire.
Penelope Foreman (Bournemouth
University) discussed the significance
of colour in reconstructing the
mindset of Neolithic peoples, which is

Issue No 16: Autumn 2016

part of her PhD research. Her focus

was on Atlantic Europe, using Bryn
Celli Ddu on Anglesey as a specific
case study.
A further example of ongoing
fieldwork was presented by Daniel
Arsenault (University of Quebec) in
his discussion of rock art from Cliff
Lake, Ontario. Fluctuating water levels
have allowed the recording of
additional examples of rock art at
known sites, and the discovery of two
new sites.
Anthony Sinclair (University of
Liverpool) reported on the possibilities

of identifying the sex of the providers

of hand stencils using geometric
morphometric analysis. Sinclair noted
that there is evidence associating the
hand stencils with the arrival of the
first anatomically modern humans in
Europe.
Finally, an in absentia paper was
presented by Ruman Bannerjee
(University of Bristol) looking at Indian
rock art.
Also incorporated into the programme
of academic papers was an
opportunity for participants to view,
and try out the experimental cave

used by the Department for teaching

and research.
Overall, the conference was an
unqualified success. The variety of
speakers, perspectives, regions and
approaches, and the depth covered
meant that the conference was both
engaging and productive. Hopefully
the networks established here will
continue to flourish through to the
next years meeting in Anglesey.
(Images by Peta Bulmer)

Rock Art Abstracts: Headlines from recent journal papers. What are researchers currently thinking about?
(Full papers available online with subscription)

Extracting rock art from

reconstructed 3D surfaces
How can we analyse the many 3D
surfaces that recording work is now
generating? This new method for the
precise segmentation of petroglyphs
from 3D surfaces could provide a way
to automatically index and interrogate
large petroglyph databases.
Zeppelzauer, M. et al. 2016.
Interactive 3D segmentation of rock
art by enhanced depth maps and
gradient preserving regularization.

Journal on Computing & Cultural

Heritage 9(4)

Exploring rock art in the Lower

Congo
The first extensive, systematic survey
of the Lovo Massif region in the Lower
Congo has produced radiocarbon
dates that allow new interpretations of
the relationship between the rock art
and the historical kingdom of Kongo.
Multiple perspectives show how the
significance of the art has evolved.

Heimlich, G. 2016. The anthropology

and history of rock art in the Lower
Congo in perspective. Antiquity 9(353)

127085

Pinpointing sources of ochre in

Kenyan rock art
A study measuring geochemical
variations in ten ochre sources from
the central Rift Valley shows that
differences in chemical composition
among sources mean that
provenance studies of ochre
artefacts, residues, and rock art in
Kenya will be feasible.

Stylistic variation & symbolism

in Australias arid zone
New analysis comparing changes in
rock art style with environmental
variations affecting mobility and
territoriality is challenging the way
social networks developed. Stylistic
sequences were observed at Kaalpi
and Katjarra in the Australian
Western Desert.

Zipkin A.M. et al. 2016. In press.

Elemental fingerprinting of Kenya
Rift Valley ochre deposits for
provenance studies of rock art and
archaeological pigments. Quaternary

Macdonald, J. 2016. In press

Discontinuities in arid zone rock art:
Graphic indicators for changing social
complexity across space and through
time. Journal of Anthropological

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.20
16.08.032

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2016.
08.005

International

Archaeology

Rock art provides an added perspective to studies of Asian elephants

The International Conference on Asian Elephants in Culture & Nature included
two papers on rock art!
Praveen, C.K. Elephas maximus in rock art of Kerala, India.
In rock art in Kerala, in the deep south of the Indian peninsula, elephants are
depicted in group shelters. They are normally shown as single, tamed elephants
used by humans for riding.
Tan, N.H. 2016. Elephants in South-East Asian rock art, an overview.
Elephants have been depicted in rock art in many parts of Southeast Asia,
including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. The art
poses questions about the significance of elephants and the date of their
domestication in the region.
Both in A. Manatunga et al. (Eds.), International Conference on Asian Elephants
in Culture & Nature, 20th 21st August 2016: 121, Centre for Asian Studies,
University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.

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Issue No 16: Autumn 2016

Chasing the butterflies of Brodgar

By Kate Sharpe (Images from the Ness of Brodgar blog: http://www.orkneyjar.com/archaeology/nessofbrodgar/)

Volunteering at the Ness of Brodgar this year, I was privileged to be
introduced to a very different type of rock art: very unlike the standard
British repertoire of pecked cups, rings, and grooves, these very finely
incised marks present a real challenge in terms of identification,
recording, and preservation let alone interpretation.
The signature motif amongst these fascinating decorations appears to
be the butterfly, formed from two flattened triangles; numerous
examples are now recorded amongst many other, largely geometric
designs. As ephemeral and as delicate as their namesakes, these finely
incised motifs can be glimpsed only when the sun reaches just the right
angle: blink and they disappear again. The two images below illustrate
the problem. Can you spot the elusive wings? The figure beneath shows
the butterfly motif more clearly. This example, found in Structure 12 in
2011 is now in Stromness Museum where some of the finds from the
Ness are displayed.

Can you spot the butterflies?

Trying to capture the elusive butterflies found on the

wall of Structure 12 in 2016.

There are seven on this slab four are digitally marked

Also in the museum, are images of the stones captured using controlled lighting, which
reveal the faint lines that are so difficult to discern in flat light, and prompt the
question of how many such marks might have been overlooked at other sites.

Butterfly motif (Structure 12, 2011)

The butterflies and other marks are found on the flat, narrow faces of the flagstone
slabs used to construct the mysterious structures that continue to baffle the excavators
at the Ness. Of particular interest are the marks discovered on the internal faces of the
slabs, positioned so that they would not have been visible. This is a context reminiscent
of the medieval inscription on stones built into the threshold of Nevern Castle (see RA
Issue 12) and intended to ward off evil spirits.

More substantial incised geometric marks have been recorded in

previous seasons. In 2015 an incredible stone was recovered from
Structure 8, showing very distinct linear decoration (now translated into
a knitting pattern for a headband in the site shop!) The geometric lines
seem to have more in common with the inscribed lines found on chalk
plaques and other objects in the south of England (see Teather 2016
for a summary) than with the cup and ring mark tradition of northern
and western Britain and Ireland.
Incised decoration is by no means the only form of prehistoric art at the
Ness. Dr Antonia Thomas, whose PhD was devoted to exploring this
aspect of the site, has recorded a wide range of examples including
variations of the cup and ring style of motif more commonly found on
outcrops and boulders in the landscape of northern Britain and Ireland
(although none have been recorded from Orkney). These include the
distinctive Eye of Brodgar, now on display in the museum. The 2016
season produced further examples, including a row of seven cups on
the interior of Structure 12, and a tiny cartouche with mini-cups
enclosed by a double incised line in Structure 8. Many of the large
blocks within the Ness structures have also been pick-dressed, and we
should not, of course, forget the remarkable painted stones (Card &
Thomas 2012).

Elaborate headband decoration from Structure 8

The Ness provides a unique opportunity to explore rock art in all its
forms and in contexts as yet unknown in Britain beyond Orkney. But
how many butterflies have escaped the excavators net elsewhere?
Card, N., and A. Thomas. 2012. Painting a picture of Neolithic Orkney:
decorated stonework from the Ness of Brodgar, in A. Cochrane and A.
M. Jones (eds.) Visualising the Neolithic: 11124. Oxford: Oxbow.

The Eye of Brodgar; tiny cartouche; row of cups.

Teather, A. 2016 Building new Neolithic connections through chalk art: the value of the archaeological collections of John Pull and
James Park Harrison. World Archaeology. DOI: 10.1080/00438243.2016.1207559
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Issue No 16: Autumn 2016

ROCK ART READS: new and forthcoming publications

Lots of new rock art books hit the digital shelves over the summer plenty to choose from when making out your Xmas list!
For ease, they are divided by continent with non-regional edited volumes at the end.

Sagaholm, Joachim Goldhahn

Oxbow Books, 27 (paperback)

Thunder and herds. Rock art of

the high plains, Lawrence L Loendorf
Routledge, 24.99 (paperback)

Might the many horse motifs present at

Sagaholm in southern Sweden be a
metaphor for an exotic, new, Middle
Bronze Age cosmology?

This summary and synthesis of the

rock art of the American High Plains,
from Archaic times to the historic
period, presents a combination of
Plains archaeology, rock art sites, and
holistic archaeological research.

www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/sagaholm.html

www.amazon.co.uk/Thunder-Herds-Rock-HighPlainsebook/dp/B01IVS7XGQ/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1
473257923&sr=1-4&keywords=rock+art+petroglyph

Rock art through time, Peter

Skoglund
Oxbow Books, 20 (hardback)
Skoglund reassesses Simrishamn rock
art in south-east Scania and examines
the relationship between iconography
on metals and in rock art.

Paleoart and materiality: the

scientific study of rock art Robert
G. Bednarik, Danae Fiore & Mara Basile
(eds.)
Archaeopress, 40 (paperback)

www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/rock-art-through-time.html

Scientific approaches to the materiality

of rock art, ranging from recording and
sampling methods to data analyses.

Post-Palaeolithic filiform rock art in

Western Europe, Fernando Coimbra
and Umberto Sansoni (eds.)
Archaeopress, 24 (paperback)

www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/paleoart-and-materiality-thescientific-study-of-rock-art.html

This collection of papers addresses

filiform or incised rock art argued to
be a more spontaneous, and immediate
form of expression compared to
painting or pecking.

Prehistoric art as prehistoric

culture. Studies in honour of
Professor Rodrigo de BalbnBehrmann, Primitiva Bueno-Ramrez &
Paul G. Bahn (eds.)
Archaeopress, 45 (paperback)

www.archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/displayProd
uctDetail.asp?id={FA7386BE-0520-447B-9D54-4E2F8FE756E4}

Diverse papers cover a variety of the

decorated caves which are traditionally
defined Palaeolithic art, as well as the
open-air art of the period.

Rock art of the Vindhyas. An

archaeological survey, Ajay Pratap
Archaeopress, 45 (paperback)
How does rock art, an object fashioned
by human hands, differ from tools?
Ajay Pratap uses the Vindhyan corpus
of rock paintings in Uttar Pradesh to
explore further.

www.archaeopress.com/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id=%7
bA71B7BDC-DFF4-4B7A-943C-1A4BA55AE2F8%7d

Archaeologies of art. Time, place,

identity, Ins Domingo Sanz, Dnae
Fiore, Sally K May (eds.)
Routledge, 19.31 (paperback)

www.archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/displayProd
uctDetail.asp?id={1EE69952-B49B-43EF-A6BD-1B5AD58FB983}

Key research that examines visual arts

of the past and contemporary
indigenous societies, placing each art
style in its temporal and geographic
context.

The enigmatic world of ancient

graffiti. Rock art in Chukotka, the
Chaunskaya region, Russia,
Margarita A. Kir'yak
Archaeopress, 25 (paperback)
This monograph analyses the content
and semantics of engravings from
Rauchuvagytgyn I in northern Cukotka
(dated to 2500 years ago).
www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/the-enigmatic-world-of-ancientgraffiti-the-chaunskaya-region-russia.html

www.amazon.co.uk/Archaeologies-Art-Place-IdentityArchaeologyebook/dp/B01HTW1GKE/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=14732
57923&sr=1-5&keywords=rock+art+petroglyph

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Issue No 16: Autumn 2016

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.

19th 21st Dec 2016 Theoretical Archaeology Group Annual Conference,

Southampton University.
This years theme is Visualisation and there are plenty of rock art and image-related
sessions, including: Enchanting objects and ways of seeing: visuality and response in
prehistoric Europe; Digital visualisation beyond the image: archaeological visualisation
making in practice; Images in the making: art-process-archaeology; Unvisualising rock and
cave art. Or perhaps you will be tempted to contribute to the session entitled What can
archaeologists learn from skateboarders?
See website for details: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/tag2016/index.page
19rdth 20th Nov 2016 Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Site Conference,
Devizes
Speakers will include: Dr Alison Sheridan (National Museums of Scotland), Dr Serge Cassen
(University of Nantes), Prof Tim Darvill (University of Bournemouth), Prof Vince Gaffney
(University of Bradford), Dr Josh Pollard (University of Southampton), Julian Richards
(Archaeologist and TV Presenter) and many more.
See website for details: http://www.stonehengeandaveburywhs.org/
23rd 24th Jun 2017 Europa 2017: The Bronze Age as Pre-Modern Globalisation,
University of Southampton
See website for details: http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/events/event/Europa_conference_2017/

INSPIRED BY ROCK ART

The Rock Art Show, Blue House
Gallery, Schull

Following a successful six months at the Cork

Public Museum between October 2015 and
March this year a public exhibition of Prehistoric
Irish Rock Art was brought to the Blue House
Gallery in Schull in September. The exhibition
was put together by West Cork residents Finola
Finlay and Robert Harris. It covered rock art
found in Ireland, and very many of the
illustrated examples from the south-west,
particularly County Cork and neighbouring
County Kerry.

Keith Paynes colourful interpretation of rock art

In 1973 UCC archaeology student Finola Finlay carried out a comprehensive study of rock art from these counties, travelling
on a borrowed Honda 50 motorbike and carrying measuring and tracing equipment. The monochrome illustrations in this
exhibition were made from her drawings. These were augmented by recent drawings made by Robert Harris using
photography and CAD (computer aided design) techniques.
Also included were images by Ken Williams, recognised as the foremost photographer of prehistoric subjects in Ireland. His
photographs, from all over Ireland, demonstrate flash techniques which he has developed to show off the art. The exhibition
was enhanced by work directly inspired by local rock art, by two artists living in West Cork: Brian Lalors drypoint engravings
provide a graphic interpretation while Keith Paynes large, colourful paintings invite us to consider whether the original rock
artists might have coloured in their carvings.

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