Issue No 13: Spring 2015

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RRRoooccckkk AAArrrtttiiicccllleeesss Issue No.13: Spring 2015 Dear All,

Welcome to the Spring 2015 issue of Rock Articles. The last six months have been a busy time for rock art, with new discoveries and excavations. Of course all the new information generated will take time to process so we will have to be patient and wait for the October issue for the full details of these. Meanwhile this issue provides some food for thought with a geological perspective on the origins and creation of rock art from and a fascinating observation on the possible role of the sun. Enjoy the summer before the bracken hides the rock art! Kate

April 2015 kesharpe@outlook.com

Contents:

• New British Discoveries: Cumbria and Northumberland ............................................................................ 1 • British Rock Art News: two excavations and a new interpretation panel .................................................... 3 • World Rock Art on the Web: international news and links ......................................................................... 5 • A Geological origin for Rock Art?: by Mike Howgate ............................................................................ 7 • Rock Art Abstracts: headlines from the journals ....................................................................................... 9 • Out of the Shadows: by Lisa-Elen Meyering ....................................................................................... 10 • Rock Art Reads ....................................................................................................................................... 11 • Dates for the Diary ................................................................................................................................. 12

NEW BRITISH DISCOVERIES After a dearth in discoveries in the last issue, we now have a number to report – with two in south Northumberland and a number in the Lake District. As always, grid references are not included but the locations of all panels references are recorded on the relevant HER database. Wallridge, Northumberland Local man Tony Metcalf was out walking his dog on farmland behind Wallridge village in Northumberland when he came across these cup and ring markings. Tony said, “I've walked this land for over thirty years and have never seen these markings before.” He suspects the marked stone has been exposed because, unfortunately, the landowner is using a mechanical digger to extract stone from a rocky outcrop. It is hoped that the panel can now be recorded before it is lost to any further earth moving.

The Wallridge panel with ‘Sookie’ providing a doggy-sized scale. Images courtesy of Tony Metcalf.

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Ponteland, Northumberland

This large, decorated boulder was discovered in a field near Ponteland to the north west of Newcastle Upon Tyne during an evaluation prior to the start of a planning appeal. Unfortunately the rock art (on the lower side of the boulder) was not identified before the stone was removed by machine. It is now at the Great North Museum. The evaluation concluded that the boulder was not in its original location, possibly moved to the edge of the field away from the plough, although it has suffered some plough damage (see image). The nearest recorded neighbouring rock art panel is at Throckley Bank which was found in a similar context (see http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/era/section/panel/overview.jsf?eraId=1365 )

Decorated boulder removed to make way for building development near

Ponteland. Image courtesy of Northumberland County Council.

Detail of the Ponteland stone (now outside the Great North Museum)

showing cup and ring motifs with peck marks, and plough damage along the lower edge.

Ambleside area, Cumbria A new cluster of rock art panels has recently emerged in an area to the north of the village of Ambleside in the central Lake District. Previously, a panel with around seven cup marks was known close to the footpath to Scandale. A second had been identified at a lower elevation in Rydal Park, this one having around 30 cups (see CWAAS1 Newsletter No. 67, Summer 2011). Now several more have been found: a further eight panels at four sites were reported by Paul and Barbara Brown in the CWAAS Newsletter No 77, Autumn 2014. Additional panels have also been located in the area by Peter Style. The new finds include several substantial outcrops with multiple cups, dumb-bells, and grooves. Please note: These new panels are all on private land. 1Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society

Section of cup-marked outcrop in the central Lake District. Image

courtesy of Peter Style.

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BRITISH ROCK ART NEWS Projects, publications, and people New interpretation panel for Gainford Stone Very few rock art panels in Britain have interpretation boards – but only one will be blessed by the Bishop of Jarrow! A new notice at St Mary’s Church, Gainford, includes information about the Gainford rock art panel and will be the focus of a dedication ceremony next month.

The panel, which is on display at the Bowes Museum, was found in the stables of Gainford House, although there are no detailed records of its discovery. It may have been used as a cist cover. It has a complex arrangement of cups, rings, and grooves on the upper surface, and cup marks and grooves on the opposite side. Gainford stone on ERA database: archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/era/section/panel/overview.jsf?eraId=2034 St Mary’s Church website: www.thisbeautifullife.co.uk

Altogether Archaeology back at Long Meg In Issue 9 (Spring 2103) we reported on surveys carried out by Altogether Archaeology volunteers, a group developed by the North Pennines AONB Partnership, and funded by the Heritage Lottery. The participants investigated both the stones of Long Meg stone circle and potential features beneath the soil. This led to an excavation which took place in March with the help of Archaeological Services, Durham University. Three trenches were opened to investigate the relationship between the stone circle and a large, adjacent enclosure ditch. The discoveries produced much head scratching amongst the archaeologists! You may have caught a glimpse of the activities in a recent episode of the BBC’s Countryfile when local lass Helen Skelton paid a visit. The results of the investigation are now being processed and we plan to bring you a more detailed account in the Autumn issue.

Cornish rock art: carbon dates and quartz A report by Andy M. Jones and Freya Lawson-Jones in the Autumn 2104 issue (no. 78) of PAST, the newsletter of the Prehistoric Society, presents the results of investigations into Cornish rock art. Small scale excavations were carried out by the Cornwall Excavation Society around two carved stones forming the Hendraburnick megalithic tomb or ‘quoit’. Carbon dates were obtained from charcoal: 2571-2350 cal BC for the larger stone, and 1742-1610 cal BC for the smaller. Cleaning of the larger stone revealed 60 cup marks clustered along the upper edge, with an unusual series of radiating grooves. The smaller stone had a smaller number of cup marks scattered on its upper surface. Both blocks are epidiorite – a type of stone used to make stone axes – and both have natural, axe-like shapes. The larger stone was set on a platform of slates, one of which had a cup mark; the underlying slate bedrock was also decorated with cup marks. A number of water-rolled quartz blocks formed an edge around the slate platform, and large amounts of fractured quartz pieces were recovered around the site (reminiscent of excavations at Torblharan, near Kilmartin by a different Andy Jones!) The full article can be downloaded from www.prehistoricsociety.org/publications/publication/past_78/ The group have plans to try a photogrammetric technique to record the art and we hope to bring you an update in the October issue.

Cup-marked stone at Hendraburnick showing cup marks and radiating groove. Images courtesy of Andy Jones.

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Tynedale Archaeology launch talks programme Tynedale North of the Wall Archaeology Group launched their talks programme with a ‘double-header’ featuring Stan Beckensall and Pete Schofield (Oxford Archaeology North). Pete presented the main findings of the Northumberland National Park/Altogether Archaeology sponsored volunteer surveys of the rich Bronze Age landscape at Ravensheugh Crags and the enigmatic stone row at Standingstone Rigg. Stan delighted the 50 strong audience at Hexham Abbey with his personal review of 50 years of community archaeology ranging from excavations on the Sussex Downs to the Blawearie Cairn in the Northumberland Cheviots. A report on the Standingstone Rigg survey can be accessed at www.tynedalearchaeologygroup.btck.co.uk/articles/StandingstoneRigg and a detailed summary of the report on Ravensheugh Crags, where over 30 cup-marked stones have now been identified in close proximity to a number of probable burial cairns, will shortly be available from the group. For more information contact tynedalearchaeology@gmail.com The next talk, by Aron Mazel and Myra Giesen of Newcastle University, will outline the CARE project on the preservation of our rock art heritage. It will also take place at Hexham Abbey on September 3rd at 7.30pm. For full details and bookings email tynedalearchaeology@gmail.com.

Survey underway at Standing Stone Rigg

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WORLD ROCK ART on the WEB News from Egypt, Australia, Asia, USA, and India

Search for life on Mars leads to possible explanation for the ‘swimming’ figures in the Sahara.

In Rock Articles No. 12 we highlighted the paintings of Elisabeth Pauli and the work of German ethnographer Leo Frobenius at the Cave of Swimmers in the Eastern Sahara, and their connections with the film ‘The English Patient’. Now it seems the cave and its art are providing valuable clues for scientists attempting to understand changes climate in this region – and to detect life on Mars!

The 6,500 year old paintings in the cave show people swimming and diving during a period when south-western Egypt was much wetter and swimming holes may have been present. Evidence for such a change in climate had been found in the form of ancient lake beds and other geological data but until now this pre-dated the rock art by many thousands of years. There was no evidence of a relatively recent, semi-permanent lake that could have served as a swimming hole for the local rock artists.

Cave of the Swimmers, Wadi Sura, Western Desert, Egypt. Image Roland Unger, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Earlier this year a research team seeking clues to potential life on Mars visited the area to study the survival, under extreme conditions, of rock-clinging microbes. They discovered carbonate deposits lining the walls of two neighbouring valleys about 200 km south of the Cave of the Swimmers, which they formed in shallow water along a lake shoreline. Carbon dating indicates that the two lakes existed 8,100 and 9,400 years ago respectively – closer to the time when people were decorating the caves.

Read more at: phys.org/news/2015-01-art-scientists-ancient-lakes.html

Full journal article: Marinova, M. M., A. N. Meckler, and C.P. McKay (2014). "Holocene freshwater carbonate structures in the hyper-arid Gebel Uweinat region of the Sahara Desert (Southwestern Egypt)." Journal of African Earth Sciences 89(0): 50-55.

Hand stencil discovered in Sydney suburb.

Image from ABC: Anne Barker

Urban rock art discovered in Sydney

An undeveloped urban ‘oasis’ in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia has recently given up a secret. Beneath the vegetation, on the top of a midden site, local heritage officers discovered an ancient Aboriginal rock art site with hand-stencils made using natural ochres, and images of eels, a spearhead, and a crescent-shaped moon. Although people had lived close by for decades they had not recognised the art, perhaps mistaking it for more recent graffiti. The site was only discovered when Sydney Water investigated the discovery of a traditional fishing hook found in the soil. The art has not yet been scientifically dated.

Read more at: www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-20/ancient-aboriginal-rock-art-site-discovered-in-sydney/5907530

New analysis of Asian rock art has global implications

New research published recently in Antiquity suggests that the first people to arrive in Southeast Asia over 50,000 years ago brought with them a rich tradition of rock art. Skilfully produced paintings of animals have been found in rock shelters from southwest China to Indonesia, as well as Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia.

Work led by Paul Taçon analysed overlapping superimpositions of art in various styles together with scientific dating. The results show that the earliest motifs (hand stencils and naturalistic animals) are of late Pleistocene age and as early as those of Europe. The authors of the paper believe that the similar form of the earliest painted motifs in Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia suggests that they are the product of a shared underlying behaviour, although the difference in context (rockshelters) indicates that experiences in deep caves cannot have been their inspiration.

Rock painting depicting a ‘catfish’ at a Phnom Kulen site near Siem

Reap, Cambodia. Image: Noel Hidalgo Tan

The new findings have profound implications for the debate about the origins of art-making, supporting ideas that it began in Africa rather than Europe. Read more at: https://app.griffith.edu.au/news/2014/11/26/ancient-rock-art-discovery-across-asia/ and www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rock-art-origins-reappraised

Full journal article: Paul S.C. Taçon, Noel Hidalgo Tan, Sue O’Connor, et al. (2014). The global implications of the early surviving rock art of greater Southeast Asia. Antiquity, 88, pp 1050-1064 doi:10.1017/S0003598X00115315

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Vandalism on the Rochester Panel shows the problem has been ongoing for decades. Image: Geoff Liesik, KSL-TV.

Vandalism in Utah

A 20 year-old artist from Utah has been speaking out about the vandalism of nearby rock art panels. Jonathon Bailey visited his first prehistoric site aged just six and over the past 13 years he has spent many hours wandering Utah’s remote San Rafael Swell finding new sites.

“Creating rock art is an extension of nature,” said Bailey, “You’ve got an artistic and a natural force sort of blended into a single set of images”.

Recently, however, Bailey has noticed a disturbing trend of increased incidents of vandalism. “It’s really almost murder,” he said, “You’re killing something that’s existed for thousands of years.”

Read more and hear what Bailey has to say in a news report at: http://bit.ly/1H1yiJk

Threat to rock art in southern India

There is concern that rock paintings discovered in the small village of Kilvalai, 55 km from Puducherry in South India may be under threat. The paintings, on a small rock called ‘Rattapparai’ depict scenes with human figures riding and leading horses, and standing in small groups, some figures with outstretched hands. Similar paintings are also found in several neighbouring villages.

K.T. Gandhirajan, an independent art researcher, said “The paintings on rocks of Kilvalai are found in three rocky areas and painted in red-ochre. That might be 3000 years old. It is believed that a few symbols of paintings are similar to that found in the Indus Valley civilisation.”

Illegal mining in the area presents a significant threat, and the growth of micro-organisms is damaging pigments. Art lovers and researchers have called for intervention by authorities to preserve the paintings.

Read more at: www.thehindu.com/news/cities/puducherry/preserve-rock-art-for-posterity-experts/article6671769.ece

Rock art at Kilvalai village in Villupuram district.

Photo: www.TheHindu.com

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A GEOLOGICAL ORIGIN FOR ROCK ART? Part one By Mike Howgate (Chairman, Amateur Geological Society) In an article in ‘Down to Earth’ magazine of February 2015 (Issue 90) I tried to shed some light on dendritic grooves found on Gritstone and thickly bedded flagstone outcrops in the South Pennines which had been mentioned in the lead article by David Shepherd and Frank Jolley of the previous issue (Down to Earth issue 89 – November 2014). These are illustrated by photographs from Buckstone, Witherns and Graining Water.

One of the suggestions was that the markings might be due to the chemical action of tree roots. However this would have formed a radiating pattern in all directions from the bole of the tree. The channels all appeared to join up to meet a main channel in a downslope direction – a typical dendritic pattern seen in river and stream drainage development. I suggested that this could easily be checked using a bottle of water to note the true direction of flow for each of the main and tributary arms of the patterns.

The patterns were very similar in outline to the much more deeply etched drainage patterns seen on clints in limestone pavement areas such as those above Malham Cove in Yorkshire. These are produced by normal erosional processes associated with limestone dissolution due to rainwater being a dilute solution of carbonic acid and aided in part by humic acid from the original peaty soil cover of the limestone pavement. The drainage pattern adopted is the classic dendritic pattern of high angled tributaries leading to a main channel which takes the surface water from the upstanding block of limestone – the clint, into the major dissolution fissure – the grike.

Drainage features on a similar scale, but etched into insoluble rock, can be seen on the summit surfaces of the granite tors of Dartmoor. Good examples are on the summit of Birchingstone Tor (see Figure 1) and consist of a series of frying pan-sized shallow depressions, called ‘Rock Basins’. These are often linked together by lips and lead down to a small but distinct runnel which is cut into the steeply rounded flanks of the Tor. In the nineteenth century the fashionable explanation for these ‘Rock Basins’ was that the depressions were carved by the Druids to catch pure rainwater which was essential for their sacrificial libations. This ‘Druidic’ explanation was replaced by a purely geomorphological explanation of these features in the early twentieth century.

The depressions are natural features caused by the frost shattering of the large plagioclase1 megacrysts2 in the granite probably in the last Ice Age. They

Figure 1. Interconnected ‘Rock Basins’ on the summit of Birchingstone Tor, Dartmoor, Devon.

gradually expand as they become a place where water can collect and the diurnal freeze–thaw of glacial times shatters more and more feldspar crystals and frees up the quartz crystals between them. When the summer sun could dry out the depressions, wind easily removes the disintegrated debris. As they grow in size the basins intersect producing a lip between them so that the higher can drain into the lower basin. The rainwater and, in winter, meltwater, could then drain down slope from the lowest basin producing a distinct linear runnel. Freeze–thaw along the constantly damper line of the runnel then gradually etched it into the surface of the granite.

A very similar process is almost certainly what produced the runnels seen associated with several cup and ring marked boulders and rock surfaces in Northumberland. One in particular, the so called ‘Channel Rock’ at East Lordenshaw exhibits two natural runnels (see Figure 2) and one artificially over-deepened one (see Figure 3). The upper section of the natural channels also exhibits a dendritic pattern which coalesces into a single runnel as the slope of the outcrop increases. At other sites such as at Old Bewick, cups with multiple rings have been cut across the over-deepened natural channels. It is difficult both from plan drawings and artistically angled photographs, whose main purpose is to highlight the ‘rock art’ pattern, to get an idea of the original drainage pattern on the rock surface which incorporates the cup and ring features. However several that I have seen incorporate these carved ‘Rock Art’ features into the downslope flow of the originally purely natural channels indicating an intimate connection of natural features into the original design (see Figure 4). Figure 2. Natural runnels on the ‘Channel Rock’, East Lordenshaw, Northumberland.

Figure 3. Late Neolithic/Bronze Age over-deepening of a runnel (the ‘Channel’) on the ‘Channel Rock, East Lordenshaw, Northumberland.

1a series of common feldspar minerals, consisting of mixtures of sodium and calcium aluminum silicates 2any crystalline grain in an igneous or metamorphic rock that is much larger than those of the surrounding matrix

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Figure 4. Cup and Ring markings incorporated into an over-deepened ‘runnel’, Old

Bewick, Northumberland.

In my opinion the Buckstones, Graining Water and Witherns photos showed natural drainage patterns etched into the rock surface. Freeze–thaw would attack the sandstone surface preferentially along the lines of the drainage pattern, loosen the sandstone grains in the process and these would be either washed or blown away. As soon as the pattern is initiated the process becomes self-perpetuating. These could then be artificially over-deepened by Neolithic / Bronze Age people as part of a ritual which could incorporate cup and ring markings.

I first became interested in cup and ring boulders as a schoolboy member of the Cartwright Memorial Hall Archaeology Group in Bradford in the early 1960s which was run by the curator of Cartwright Hall, Sidney Jackson. The ideas outlined above came out of trips I undertook in 2014: one to Dartmoor organised by the Geologists’ Association and the other a study weekend on Northumberland Rock Art organised by Andante Travel and led by Dr Tertia Barnett.

Mike Howgate.

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. 14: 18th Sept 2015

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Rock Art Abstracts: Headlines from recent journal papers. What are academic researchers currently thinking about? (Full papers available online only with subscription) Musk ox modification in Ethiopia Could the contemporary transformation of oxen in southwest Ethiopia provide insight into cattle portrayal in Ethiopian rock art? The authors suggest the patterns on cattle coats in Ethiopian rock art may represent real practices of decorative branding to modify, alter, or beautify the animals.

Insoll, T., Timothy Clack, T., and Rege, O. (2015). Mursi ox modification in the Lower Omo Valley and the interpretation of cattle rock art in Ethiopia. Antiquity, 89: 91-105 doi:10.15184/aqy.2014.31

Violence in Neolithic Iberia How violent was life in Neolithic society, and was there organised warfare? The author argues that Spanish Levantine rock art, combined with data from the archaeological record, offers a unique insight into conflict in Neolithic society, with images of violence, real or imagined, being acted out in scenes preserved in rock shelters.

López-Montalvo, E. (2015). Violence in Neolithic Iberia: new readings of Levantine rock art. Antiquity, 89: 309-327 doi:10.15184/aqy.2014.12

Oxhide ingots in Scandinavia Bronze Age Swedish rock art images identified as oxhide ingots suggest that Scandinavians were familiar with this Mediterranean trading commodity. Might they have been travelling there rather than acting through a middle man?

Ling, J. and Stos-Gale, Z. (2015). Representations of oxhide ingots in Scandinavian rock art: the sketchbook of a Bronze Age traveller? Antiquity, 89: 191-209 doi:10.15184/aqy.2014.1

Cosmological landscapes in Arkansas American Indian rock art is distributed across the Arkansas River Valley in a distinctive pattern: motifs referencing the spirit world predominate north of the river, and imagery depicting the observable world is found to the south. The authors explore how local communities incorporated exotic ideas into the fabric of their cosmological landscapes.

Sabo, G., Hilliard, J.E., & Walker, L.C. (2015). Cosmological Landscapes and Exotic Gods: American Indian Rock Art in Arkansas. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 25(01): 261-273.

Hand stencils in Cantabria European Palaeolithic hand stencils have generally been assigned to the Gravettian period but at El Castillo Cave, U-series dating of calcite accretions show them to have to a minimum age of 37,290 years - the earlier Aurignacian. A red disk at the base of the rock art stratigraphy had a minimum age of 40,800 years. The authors argue for an initial, non-figurative phase of European cave art, although hand stencils continued to be painted into the Late Gravettian.

García-Diez, M., Garrido, D., Hoffmann, D.L., Pettitt, P.B., Pike, A.W.G., and Zilhão, J. (2015). The chronology of hand stencils in European Palaeolithic rock art: implications of new U-series results from El Castillo Cave (Cantabria, Spain) Journal of Anthropological Sciences, 93: 1-18

Acoustics in Spain This study analyses reverberation and echoes in areas with rock art and in areas with none. Different sounds were tested to identify instruments capable producing a sensory reaction. The authors argue that the acoustic properties of a site indicate a sacred use of the landscape, in which sound was a key element of ritual performance.

Diaz-Andreu, M., and Carlos Garcia, B. (2015). Acoustic rock art landscapes: a comparison between the acoustics of three Levantine rock art areas in Mediterranean Spain [online]. Rock Art Research, 32(1): 46-62.

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OUT of the SHADOWS... Lisa-Elen Meyering, a student at Durham University, has revealed some interesting patterns in her analysis of the figures depicted on boats in Swedish rock art. Through a detailed analysis she found that figures associated with ritual performances (such as acrobats, lur (horn) blowers, and ceremonial axe bearers) were common on panels located close to the sea, whereas more everyday activities (including the moving of boats, combat, and hunting) were depicted on inland panels near to rivers. But another discovery, made by chance by Lisa-Elen when visiting panels to carry out her analysis, provides a fascinating glimpse of the possible processes surrounding the depiction of human figures. Here she explains her ideas. The Sun Shadow Hypothesis Lisa-Elen Meyering – BA Archaeology and Anthropology, Durham University

As part of my Undergraduate Dissertation project at Durham University, I visited the World Heritage Site at Tanum, Sweden. Tanum belongs to the county Bohuslän, with northern Bohuslän bearing more than 1500 rock art sites. Its most abundant motif is the boat and Bohuslän alone counts almost 10000 of such depictions. Yet, many anthropomorphic beings can also be observed on the panels. They carry out actions such as hunting animals, are engaged in interpersonal violence, dance, marry, and play instruments. Additionally, there are a number of highly enlarged, super-sized beings on the higher rocks of the sites. They are often displayed with distorted bodies, such as long legs, enlarged calf muscles and a short upper body.

Upon visiting the panel at Asperberget, a site of both steep and almost horizontally sloped panels, the evening sun cast shadows of visitors back onto the rock.

It was remarkable how the human shadows with prominent features such as disproportionately small upper bodies, elongated legs and pronounced calf muscles mirrored the oversized and enlarged anthropomorphic figures on the rocks. The idealised figures on board boats as well as stand-alone enlarged anthropomorphs outside the realms of the boat possess heavily enlarged calf muscles, generally long legs and a longer lower body.

The following images exemplify this observed phenomenon as depicted on the rocks of Asperberget. The long legs in relation to the short upper body is clearly visible and shows a striking resemblance to the anthropomorphic beings engraved in the rocks.

Without the luxury of a modern day mirror, and beyond water reflections (e.g. Ovid’s Narcissus style) and possible reflections in shiny bronze objects during the Bronze Age, the sun would have been a welcome means to view oneself in full length. Perhaps the Bronze Age carvers wanted to reflect what they saw in such distortions on the rocks as an eternal engraving, as a manifestation of their existence. Maybe their shadow was an extension of themselves, a second being perhaps? Shadows in ancient Egypt often mirror the existence of a soul, so are these depictions of distorted beings emblematic of souls or higher spirits?

Waddington (1998) proposes that cup and ring marks mirror patterns observable in the natural world, eg the pattern that occurs when rain drops splash into a puddle and cause radiating ripples. Bronze Age people might have been similarly inspired by their surroundings to create

shadows of themselves as formed in and from nature.

Overall, what I am proposing is that Bronze Age carvers and their initiators might have used the power of celestial bodies such as the sun to create artistic representations of themselves. Whatever their reasons for displaying their anthropomorphs in such a way, the magnitude and detailed individuality of each carving never fails to fascinate viewers of the panels.

For any questions on Scandinavian Rock Art and information on further discoveries of my BA Dissertation, please contact me via lisa-elen.meyering@dur.ac.uk

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ROCK ART READS: New and Forthcoming Publications

Picturing the Bronze Age. Edited by Johan Ling, Peter Skoglund and Ulf Bertilsson.

From Oxbow: Pictures from the Bronze Age are numerous, vivid and complex. There is no other prehistoric period that has produced such a wide range of images spanning from rock art to figurines to decoration on bronzes and gold. Fifteen papers, with a geographical coverage from Scandinavia to the Iberian Peninsula, examine a wide range of topics reflecting the many forms and expressions of Bronze Age imagery encompassing important themes including religion, materiality, mobility, interaction, power and gender.

Contributors explore specific elements of rock art in some detail such as the representation of the human form; images of manslaughter; and gender identities. The relationship between rock art imagery and its location on the one hand, and metalwork and networks of trade and exchange of both materials and ideas on the other, are considered. Modern and ancient perceptions of rock art are discussed, in particular the changing perceptions that have developed during almost 150 years of documented research.

ISBN: 978-1782978794; 232 pages with colour illustrations; Oxbow Books; Not yet published - advance orders taken. Price GB £27.

www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/picturing-the-bronze-age.html

Communicating with the world of beings. Knut Helskog.

From Oxbow: The rock art found in the World Heritage sites in the Alta area, Arctic Norway, comprise thousands of images including reindeer and elk as well as fish, birds, boats, humans and geometric patterns. They contain information about peoples who lived in this northern area from about 5000 BC up until the birth of Christ; such as possible social organizations, hunting and trapping, beliefs, rituals, stories, legends, myths, cultural changes and continuities.

In this beautifully illustrated book Knut Helskog provides a lyrical and personal interpretation of the chronology, patterning and possible meanings behind this extraordinary landscape of prehistoric rock art.

ISBN 978-1782974116; 240 pages; colour illustrated throughout. Oxbow books. Price GB £35. Also available as an eBook (pdf).

www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/communicating-with-the-world-of-beings.html

Elevated rock art. Towards a maritime understanding of Bronze Age rock art in northern Bohuslän, Sweden Volume 2. Johan Ling.

From Oxbow: How may Bohuslän rock art and landscape be perceived and understood? Since the Bronze Age, the landscape has been transformed by shore displacement but, largely due to misunderstanding and certain ideas about the character of Bronze Age society, rock art research in Tanum has drawn much of its inspiration from the present agrarian landscape. This perception of the landscape has not been a major issue. This volume, republished from the GOTAC Serie B (Gothenburg Archaeological thesis 49) aims to shed light on the process of shore displacement and its social and cognitive implications for the interpretation of rock art in the prehistoric landscape. The findings clearly show that in the Bronze Age, the majority of rock art sites in Bohuslän had a very close spatial connection to the sea.

ISBN: 978-1782977629; 272 pages with b/w and colour illustrations; Oxbow Books; Price GB £40. Also available as an eBook (pdf).

www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/elevated-rock-art-towards-a-maritime-understanding-of-bronze-age-rock-art-in-northern-bohuslan-sweden.html

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DATES for your DIARY: Forthcoming Conferences and Events If you have an event you would like to publicise here please send me the details.

2nd May 2015 British Rock Art Group Annual Conference, Bristol University. See page 6 for details and contact information.

29 May 2015 - 31 May 2015 The Prehistoric Society Europa Conference 2015: The Origins of Monumentality Moore Auditorium, Science Centre, Belfield Campus, University College Dublin See website for details: http://www.prehistoricsociety.org/events/event/europa_2015_dublin/

3rd September 2015 Tynedale North of the Wall Talks Series The CARE Project: the preservation of our rock art heritage, by Aron Mazel and Myra Giesen of Newcastle University. Hexham Abbey, 7.30pm. For full details and bookings email tynedalearchaeology@gmail.com.

Cup-marked panel at Ravensheugh, Northumberland, photographed by Cezary Namirski.