The Meaning of the Motifs

By Jan J. Brouwer, The Netherlands

This page is part of the

British Rock Art Collection

If we had the chance to speak to this Stone Age rock carver, what would he tell us aboutthe meaning of the motifs? Territorial markers, maps, doodles, games or merely

decorations? We will never know! What remains are our guesses. Sometimes serious,sometimes fanciful and with only a single one -more or less- proven (see 2008 below)

they remain what they are; prehistoric riddles. This page deals with the historyof attempts to catch the truth. There must have been at least one, maybe more.

Measuring, researching, imaging!No conclusions so far.

We may see in them what we want using our imagination and fantasy.

1852 Rev. James Graves:"Maps of ancient Camps and Settlements". He noticed the rockart passage-gravecarvings in Ireland almost simultaneously with his colleague Rev. Greenwell inNorthumberland

1865 G.V. Du Noyer & E.A. Conwell:Article in The Meath Herald of 21 Oct. 1865 about the first recording of inscribed stonesin the Loughcrew Mountains (Ireland): "One of the group of small hollows very closelyresembles the constellation of "The Plough". So they were "Star Maps"-believers.Compare this one with what the farmer said in 1998!

1867 J. Collingwood Bruce:

According to Beckensall, 1979, p.16-18: "He found no satisfactory answer to theintention behind the carvings. He rejected "maps of camps" and "druidical sacrifices"andwas not convinced of "sun symbols". He further stated: "They have a "religioussignificancy" and "it is highly probable that these incised markings are, in some way oran other, "connected with the burial of the dead". He was supported in this belief by theRev. Greenwell".

Ballymeanoch, Argyll (Bruce, 1869)

1882 William Jolly F.S.A Scot., H.M. Inspector of Schools, Inverness:About the origins of the carved stones: "These appear to have been religious".(PSAS16,p.396)

1921 Bishop Browne:He found that certain c&r-marked rocks in Aberdeenshire formed "maps of constellationsin mirror image", suggesting that ancient astronomers took rubbings or impressions ofthem.

1969 Prof. A. Thom: "Megalithic observation stations, scale models of existing stonecircles".

1979 Ronald W. B. Morris:In his book "The Prehistoric Rock Art of Galloway & The Isle of man", Morris gives 104explanations (some written as a statement!) which he found in previous publications andgives them his "personal assessment of the probability that each idea is correct"through marks out of ten.Since a lot of references are made to this book, all the explanations will be given in thesame sequence as in the book.Morris' Rating: 10 = a certainty or nearly so, 5 = reasonably sensible idea which may ormay not be true, 0 = quite impossible.Maarten van Hoek wrote his marks with a pencil in Morris' book which is on our shelfnow.We give his marks and some of these annotations directly after Morris', e.g.: (10/9; onlyhorizontal etc.)

Fasten seat belts; here we go!

Burials (10/10), Standing stones (9/9), Alignment markers (10/8), Astronomy (9/9), Re-use in burial (9/9), Early prospectors (8/4), Early prospectors aids (5/0), Belief in after-live (8/8), Religious and magical (7/10), Uniform religious or magical significance (6/4),Breasts (4/0), Mother Goddess (4/0), Eyes (4/0), Phallic symbols (3/0), Fertilitysymbols; 'sperm entering the egg'(2/0), Fertility rites (3/?), Marks of sexual prowess (0/0), Circumcision ceremony (1/0), Sex symbols (0/0), Sun symbol (6/7), Sun God (5/0),Baal (5/0), Water divining (0/0), Mixing Vessels for bronze (2/0), Mixing vessels forpigments (4/0), Quantity measures (1/0), Freemasons 'earliest' marks (0/0), Sacredfood & wine holders (5/0), Fertility rites (Indian) (0/0), Copies of worm casts (2/0),Copies of tree rings (2/0), Copies of ripples from a stone thrown into a pool (2/5?),Druids (5/0), Use by Druids (5/3), Blood sacrifice (4/3), Code (5/0), Water time-signals(1/0; only when horizontal or nearly so; what about really dry spells?), Clocks (1/0; whynot using the sun and sticks for shadow?), Pictographs or hieroglyphs (6/0; to manypossibilities), Early writing (0/0), Messages from outer space (0/0), Megalithic inch (9/5?; Mechanics of human body may accidentally produce motifs that seem to be based onmathematical units), All measured in or founded on megalithic inches (0/0), Right angletriangles -as suggested by Professor Thom- (9/5), Equilateral triangles (6/0), Code (1/0), Spirals are two-centre half-circles or ellipses(7/0), Different races made them (7/7),Bonfire ritual site markers (6/4; many sites are not suited for this), Search for food (2/0), Seed production (1/0), Early pilgrimage marks (1/7), Dye-transfer moulds (6/0;exact horizontal sheets will be needed; many carved surfaces slope quite a lot; whychoose a spot hard to reach in the hills?), Metal moulds (0/0), Maps of the countryside(1/0), Building plans (0/0), Star Maps (1/0), Emblems (5/0), Tattooists' patterns(5/0),Decorations (5/-), Doodles (2/0), An elderly man's screen (2/0), Boundary Markers (5/0), Route markers (5/7), Tribal convention commemorators (3/7), Mithra worship (0/0),Shields (0/0), Gaming tables (3/0), Marbles (3/0), Annular brooches (3/0), Animisticcarvings (0/0), Primitive lamp bases (0/0), Water worship (5/6), Cattle worship (2/0),Marks of piety (5/7), Re-use of a long dead superstition (5/4; might be coincidental),Monuments of the dead (1/0), Natural (0/0), Hidden treasure (0/0), Plans for megalithicstructures (0/0), Plans for laying out mazes (0/0), Field ploughing plans (0/0), Oathmarks (5/4), Victory Marks (1/0), Masons' marks (0/0), Adder Lairs (0/0), Knife-sharpening marks (0/0), An early form of music notation (0/0), Tuning device (0/0),Early astronomer's night memorandum (2/0), Birth, growth, life and death symbol (5/4),A locked-up force (0/0), The stone circle builders carved them (8/7), Healing Magic (5/0;

you can't go round many of these stones), Casts for making bronze (3/0), Sea Goddessworship (1/0), Mirror (5/0), Womb Symbol (5/0), Wells (0/0), Child carvings (0/0)

If we leave the zeros (Quite Impossible) out, this is Mr Morris' list from 10 to 1:

Alignment markers (10), Burials (10), Standing stones (9), Right angle triangles (9),Megalithic inch (9), Astronomy (9), Re-use in burial (9), Early prospectors (8), Belief inafter-live (8), The stone circle builders carved them (8), Religious and magical (7),Spirals are two-centre half-circles or ellipses(7), Different races made them (7), Dye-transfer moulds (6), Bonfire ritual site markers (6), Uniform religious or magicalsignificance (6), Sun symbol (6), Equilateral triangles (6), Pictographs or hieroglyphs(6), Equilateral triangles (6), Decorations (5), Re-use of a long dead superstition (5),Marks of piety (5), Baal (5), Early prospectors aids (5), Boundary Markers (5), Waterworship (5), Route markers (5), Birth, growth, life and death symbol (5), Sun God (5),Sacred food & wine holders (5), Oath marks (5), Emblems (5), Healing Magic (5), Mirror(5), Womb Symbol (5), Tattooists' patterns(5), Code (5), Use by Druids (5), Druids (5),Breasts (4), Blood sacrifice (4), Mother Goddess (4), Mixing vessels for pigments (4),Eyes (4), Phallic symbols (3), Fertility rites (3), Tribal convention commemorators (3),Casts for making bronze (3), Gaming tables (3), Marbles (3), Annular brooches (3),Early astronomer's night memoranda (2), Mixing Vessels for bronze (2), Fertilitysymbols(2), Copies of worm casts (2), Doodles (2), Search for food (2), Copies of ripplesfrom a stone thrown into a pool (2), Copies of tree rings (2), Cattle worship (2),Monuments of the dead (1), Circumcision ceremony (1), Clocks (1), Quantity measures(1), Code (1), Water time-signals (1), Star Maps (1), ), Early pilgrimage marks (1),Maps of the countryside (1), Seed production (1), Victory Marks (1), Sea Goddessworship (1)

Maarten van Hoek's list is even shorter:

Burials (10), Religious and magical (10), Standing stones (9), Astronomy (9), Re-use inburial (9), Alignment markers (8), Belief in after-live (8), Early pilgrimage marks (7),Route markers (7), Tribal convention commemorators (7), The stone circle builderscarved them (7), Marks of piety (7), Different races made them (7), Copies of ripplesfrom a stone thrown into a pool (5), Use by Druids (3), Blood sacrifice (3), Megalithicinch (5), Right angle triangles (5), Uniform religious or magical significance (4), Earlyprospectors (4), Bonfire ritual site markers (4), Water worship (6), Re-use of a longdead superstition (4), Oath marks (4), Birth, growth, life and death symbol (4)

1996 P.J. Ashmore, Chief Inspector of Historic Scotland:He believes that the carvings represent "Territorial Markers". He calls it "the best arguedexplanation". (Neolithic and Bronze Age Scotland, 1996, p.59)

1996 Jeremy Dronfield:In a BBC-documentary, Dronfield thinks that the c&r-marks represent a "membrane"through which "sjamans" enter the underworld while in trance.

1998 De farmer of Torss Farm (near Kirkcudbright, Galloway):When we stood by the small greywackce outcrop (see photo below) with 10 cupsenclosed by 2 oval grooves on a untidy piece of land behind the farm, the farmer gaveme his thoughts. "I am an amateur astronomer" he said "and I strongly believe that thismark is an image of the constellation of the Plough". So he is a "Star Map"- believer.Compare this with 1865; small world!

1998 Lisa van Dam:

My beloved sister in law was sure after looking to our photos: "marble pots", she said.And she is as much right as anybody else! This possibility was already in Morris' list buthe added there: "Why have we found no marbles?"

1998 Paola Arosio & Diego Meozzi:

The Ormaig Carvings; a prehistoric telephone booth?

In their famous "Ancient Scotland Tour" they visited the Ormaig carvings on the 13th ofJuly and seeing the rosettes their first creative impression was: "A rotary dial telephoneto call the Prehistoric Scots". In their interesting diary they gave a more serious personaltheory: "....they could be a kind of "family tree": the central cup being the first man ofthe family group and the rings around it his sons and nephews. Anyway, mystery isperhaps the best part of archaeology, and these sites are so beautiful andinteresting".

Small outcrop behind the Torss Farm, Kirkcudbrightshire

According to the farmer of Torss Farm near Kirkcudbright, Galloway/Scotland, thiscarving resembles the conspicuous open star cluster (a small saucepan!) called thePlough or Pleiades in the constellation TaurusIn Greek mythology, the Pleiades are the seven daughters of Atlas, placed as stars in thesky to save them from the pursuit of Orion after they had killed themselves for grief overthe dead of their half-sisters the Hyades.

Some meanings which we received from our viewers

Name Meaning

DavidMilner Direction Markers for Migrating Tribes

VerenaSchwippert

Gateways into the rock, into different reality, into the spirit of the rock byperhaps shamans or similar persons (www.verena-schwippert.com)

ColinSmith

I am a hydro-geologist by trade. I think the cup and ring carvings arerepresentations of springs. They have the classic form of springs andmany show the flow patterns of springs. They occur close to the groundlike springs and are often in areas that would be dry in summer - when youwould like to encourage a spring to flow.

GeoffSimpson

Well its obvious! Ever seen the rings made during a heavy rainstorm?That's it mate!

Your opinion will be placed here. E-mail us at: rockartuk@kpnmail.nl

Brian A.Smith andAlan A.Walker

In their book "Rock Art and Ritual", Tempus 2008, ISBN: 9780752446349,these researchers make a statistical analysis of the decorated stones on theFylingdale Moors, North Yorkshire, England. This analysis leads to theconclusion that the decorated stones were "water related route-markers".

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