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Rydal, Cumbria.
Not content with finding the new cup-marked outcrop in Borrowdale featured in Rock
Articles 2, Pete Style has now identified another four sites! Just like the Borrowdale
panel, and all the other cup-marked outcrops in the Lake District, the new examples
are low-lying, close to the valley bottom, and near to flowing water and to lakes. All
are marked with pecked cups, but no other motifs. The panel shown is near to the
village of Rydal, close to Rydal Water and Rydal Beck, and consists of a cluster of cups
with a few outliers, pecked onto the smooth upper surface of a large outcrop.
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Issue No 3: Spring 2010
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Issue No 3: Spring 2010
NEWS in BRIEF
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Issue No 3: Spring 2010
Generally, thus far in Ross-Shire, we noticed that simple cup-marks were confined
to earthfast boulders, while the more complex range and variation of rock-art was
reserved for low-to-the-ground rectilinear slabs. Additionally, as is the case with
all cup-and-ring rock-art the rock's elevation, prominence, slope and aspect is
crucial in terms of its setting. During our re-location of in situ rock-art sites we
often noticed that there were the remains of hut-circles, chambered burial cairns and prehistoric trackways, in the immediate
vicinity. All in all, if the archive of images accumulated thus far in the Easter Ross region is representational of the entire
Highlands region, then there must have been ample contact between it and Ireland during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze
Age, due to their similarities with Irish rock-art imagery.
Whilst working on the Project, I got the opportunity to visit some beautifully remote and peaceful locations, miles away from the
traditional tourist trails. We met some really co-operative landowners and farmers, all of whom had an interest in and a
knowledge of the archaeology on their land. I was very happy to have had the opportunity of assisting in the location of some of
the HER entries, and I would like to thank John and Trina Wombell once again for all their help and hospitality during my stay in
North Kessock, Ross-Shire.
For information about further volunteering opportunities with RRAP, please contact
John Wombell on 01997 423273 or email john.wombell@btinternet.com
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Issue No 3: Spring 2010
Volunteers are needed for the next season of fieldwork in Western Sahara. Anyone can volunteer to take part; no experience of
archaeology or scientific fieldwork is required.
The Western Sahara Project is an interdisciplinary research project that aims to improve our understanding of past
environmental, social and cultural change in northwest Africa. The main focus of the research is on human-environment
interaction over the past 10,000 years (the Holocene period), with an emphasis on the transition from humid to arid conditions
in the Middle to Late Holocene.The Project is led by the University of East Anglia, and involves specialists in a wide range of
subjects from a number of institutions.
The Sahara is remarkably rich in archaeology, representing the palaeolithic to the historical periods. Areas that are now hyper-
arid are often littered with prehistoric artefacts, from hand axes dating back hundreds of thousands of years to arrow heads,
grinding stones, pottery and other artefacts dating from the past few millennia. These remains and abundant rock art illustrate
that the Sahara was not always the arid desert it is today, but was once much wetter.
Fieldwork is conducted in the eastern and southern areas of the disputed, non self-governing territory of Western Sahara
(formerly Spanish Sahara). These areas are under the control of the Polisario independence movement, the remainder of the
territory being occupied by Morocco.
A 3-week season of reconnaissance survey work from around 5-27 November 2010. A season of excavations may also run from
approximately 1 October - 13 November 2010, subject to the availability of external funding. Volunteers are needed for both of
these components. If the excavations go ahead two sets of volunteers for required this element, to participate in two
consecutive 3-week excavation modules.
Dr Nick Brooks
Co-Director
Western Sahara Project
School of World Art & Museology Studies
University of East Anglia
Norwich NR4 7TJ
Tel: +44 7919 402 918
Email: nick.brooks@uea.ac.uk
Website: http://www.nickbrooks.org/
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Issue No 3: Spring 2010
FEATURED PANELS
The petroglyphs of Carschenna, Switzerland
The carved geometric motifs found about 400m above the
Domlesch valley in the Swiss Alps could easily be
mistaken for the cup and ring marks found in Northern
Britain and Ireland. Twelve decorated rocks have been
recorded. All are glacially polished local schist which is not
very stable. The most common motif is the cup-mark
(n=300), often combined with (2-9) concentric circles.
Spirals occur on 2 panels, but unlike in British and Irish
rock art, there are also 25 zoomorphic and five
anthropomorphic images. The carvings have inspired a
number of researchers to suggest astronomical
interpretations. In the 1970s a geologist, Liniger, looked
for alignments of motifs with the horizon, linking to solar
or lunar events. On Rock 2, he interpreted three groups of
cupules as a ‘lunar dot count’ depicting two lunar weeks
with nine days, and a third week with twelve days. He
believed this represented a calendar system showing two
cycles of four solar years, and he dated the composition
to 700 BC. Nearby is a composition of nine rings, divided
into four quarters. A figure below this is interpreted as a
‘deer’ with a ‘rider’. Liniger interpreted the combination of
these two motifs to mean a solar year.
Rock 2: Horse with rider below cup with nine rings interpreted as
a ‘solar year’.
Read more about the Carschenna petroglyphs and their interpretation in:
Diethelm, I., and H. Deithelm. 2009. The Petroglyphs of Carschenna, Switzerland. Rock Art Research, Vol. 26, Number 1: 95-98.
and at: http://www.rupestre.net/alps/carsch.html
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Issue No 3: Spring 2010
24th April
5th Biennial Rock Art Symposium: “Underlying Mechanisms”, University of Bristol and Time and Mind
Tickets: £20. For further details contact Dr George Nash at George.Nash@bristol.ac.uk
Program
10.15-10.45 Jitka Soukopova: Round Heads: Complex reality of the earliest Saharan paintings
10.45-11.15 Jamie Hampson: Approaching rock art in under-studied regions: case studies from Mpumalanga (South Africa) and
Texas (USA)
Coffee/Tea break
11.30-12.00. Frederick Baker, Christopher Well & Christopher Chippindale/Music, archaeo-acoustics and rock-art location in the
Copper Age of Valcamonica (BS), Italy
12.00-12.30. Paul Devereux: Acoustic and other sensory mechanisms associated with rock-art locations
12.30-1.00. Aron Mazel: Time, Colour and Sound: exploring the rock of Didima Gorge, South Africa
LUNCH
2.00-2.30. Tertia BarnettPredicting pastoral movement in south west Libya
2.30-3.00. Kate Sharpe: Rock art, Rough-outs and Routeways: New discoveries in the English Lake District
3.00-3.30. Barry Lewis: Sydney and Blue Mountains region rock art and the rock art of initiation
Coffee/Tea Break
3.45-4.15. Anne Eastham: Pathways and properties a case study on the uses of prehistoric standing stones in Pembrokeshire,
South Wales
4.15-4.45. Michael Eastham: Preconceived notions blind down a cave more than the dark
4.45-5.15. George Nash (optional depending time): Rock-art as a mnemonic device: Establishing memory through early
medieval monumental sculptures in north-west England
FINISH
8th May
British Rock Art Group 2010
BRAG 2010 will be held on Saturday 8th May in the McDonald Institute Seminar Room, Department of Archaeology, Downing
Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ.
Program
9.30–10.00 Registration and coffee
10.00–10.20 Aron Mazel: Revisiting Didima: a special rock art valley in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg, South Africa.
10.20–10.40 Jitka Soukopova: Saharan rock art: how can we interpret it?
10.40–11.00 Jamie Hampson: Approaching rock art in under-studied regions: case studies from South Africa and Texas.
11.00–11.20 Dave Robinson, Fraser Sturt, Julienne Bernard & Gregory Tucker: Other than sacred? Rock-art and watery places
in indigenous south-central California.
Coffee break
11.40–12.00 Daniel Arsenault: Reading rock-art as spiritual text and sacred context: an informed approach to the tangible and
intangible dimensions of rock-art sites in the Canadian Shield.
12.00–12.20 Ludwig Jaffe: Captabases without captabases for rock imagery.
12.20–12.40 Mila Abreu & Cris Buco: Yes there are also engravings! Discoveries in the rock-art of Piaui, Brazil.
12.40–1.00 Michael Rainsbury: Kimberley rock art.
LUNCH
2.00–2.20 Robert Wallis: Animism, ancestors and adjusted styles of communication: hidden art in Irish passage tombs.
2.20–2.40 Lila Janik: Design and display: seeing and experiencing the visual narrative.
2.40–3.00 Mark Sapwell: Transforming shamanism in southern Sweden: altered states of consciousness or altered states of
body?
3.00–3.20 John Wombell: Ross-shire rock art project: Phase 1 survey completion.
Coffee break
3.40–4.00 George Nash: Using the topography of the rock-art panel to say interesting things: a case for rock-art of the
Valcamonica, Lombardy, northern Italy.
4.00–4.20 Margarita Díaz-Andreu: Looking at the rock face: the study of the rock art site of Los Cuchillos (Murcia, SE Spain).
4.20–4.40 Sara Garces & Mila Abreu: Dear deer: cervid figures in Portuguese rock imagery.
4.40–5.00 John Sastre: Research on schematic rock art in the Esla River valley (Zamora, Spain).
Break
5.10–5.30 Discussion led by Chris Chippindale
FINISH
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Issue No 3: Spring 2010
6th-11th Sept
IFRAO CONGRESS: PLEISTOCENE ART OF THE WORLD (Ariège-Pyrénées, France)
Research in recent decades has suggested that most Pleistocene palaeoart of the world may
not be figurative, and that some is even much older than the art encountered in Europe. This
differs so significantly from the popular model of Pleistocene art that an IFRAO Congress has
been organised, dedicated to this subject, addressing questions of dating, of the definitions of
palaeoart and its taphonomy, and of regional distribution of evidence in each continent, re-
evaluating the topic of the global phenomenon of Pleistocene palaeoart traditions.
The congress will take place at the Prehistoric Park (near Tarascon-sur-Ariège): Congrès Art
Pléistocène dans le Monde, Parc de la Préhistoire, 09400 Tarascon-sur-Ariège (France). Email:
ifrao.ariege.2010@sesta.fr Phone +33 561 055 040.
Visit to the caves (Niaux, Bédeilhac, Le Mas d’Azil, Gargas) and Palaeolithic art museums (Le
Mas d’Azil, Musée Bégouën) will be organised both during (on 8 September) and at the end of
the Congress (on 11 September). Congress official languages will be English, French, Spanish.
Registration Fee: 100 euros for participants; 60 € for accompanying persons and for students.
Inscription will depend on the actual payment of the fee. Deadline: 30 June 2010. If, however,
the number of participants duly inscribed before the deadline reaches the maximum number of
persons we can accept, inscription will be immediately stopped and notice will be given on the
web site at http://ifrao.sesta.fr/
For further information contact Jean Clottes, 11 rue du Fourcat 09000 Foix, France. Email:
j.clottes@wanadoo.fr
Current contributions:
Pleistocene art in Africa (Peter Beaumont Dirk Huyge)
Pleistocene art in the Americas (Alice TratebasAndré Prous and María Mercedes Podestá)
Pleistocene art in Asia (Giriraj Kumar and Majeed Khan)
Pleistocene art in Australia (Robert Bednarik and John Campbell)
Pleistocene art in Europe (Jean Clottes and Manuel González Morales)
Signs, symbols, myth, ideology in Pleistocene art : the archaelogical material and its anthropological meanings (Dario Seglie,
Mike Singleton, and Marcel Otte,; co-assisted by Enrico Comba and Luiz Oosterbeek)
Dating and taphonomy of Pleistocene palaeoart (Jean Clottes and Robert Bednarik)
Application of forensic techniques to Pleistocene palaeoart investigations (Yann-Pierre Montelle and Robert Bednarik,)
Pleistocene portable art (Aline Averbough and Valérie Feruglio)
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Issue No 3: Spring 2010
World Rock Art: The Primordial Language. Third Revised and updated edition by Emmanuel
Anati, Archaeopress.
From the Archaeopress website: This volume is a basic introduction to rock art studies. It marks the
starting point of the new methodology for rock art analysis, based on typology and style, first
developed by the author at the Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici. This book demonstrates the
beginnings of a new discipline, the systematic study of world rock art. This edition is a revised and
updated version of Anarti’s classic text, first published in English in 1993. Additions have been made
and a major new category of rock art has been included.
ISBN 9781905739318. vi+180p; illustrated throughout with drawings and photographs in colour and
black and white.
Price GB £19.95.
Australian Rock Art. A New Synthesis by Robert Layton, Cambridge University Press.
From the Cambridge University Press website: The origins of rock art in Australia are probably as old
as that of the hunter-gatherers of Western Europe, well-known for the prehistoric caves of Altamira
and Lascaux. That the practice of painting and engraving on rocks continues in parts of northern and
central Australia emphasises the importance of this art as a source of visual information for Australia's
indigenous communities, Rock art can be 'read' to determine cultural processes and provides a
durable record of thousands of years of cultural change. This book is an extensive survey of Australian
rock art, presenting detailed case studies revealing the significance of both recent and ancient art for
Australia's living indigenous communities. Archaeological data provides evidence of the ways in which
rock art traditions have changed over 15,000 or more years in response to changes in the
environment, the development of new forms of social organisation and the impact of European
colonial settlement.
ISBN-10: 0521125782; ISBN-13: 978-0521125789. Paperback: 304p
Price: GB £21.99
http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521125789
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