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Rock Articles
Kate October 2011 kesharpe@live.co.uk
Dear All, A slightly shorter issue this Autumn, reflecting on conferences, and updating on projects. The big news of the summer was the discovery, in a Welsh cave, of markings believed to represent a reindeer (see p6). If you received RA via an email you will also have a link to a short survey which I hope you will take a couple of minutes to complete. Readers accessing RA directly on the Scribd website will find the survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JLGKSFB. Your feedback and suggestions are always welcome.
Contents: New British Discoveries .......................................................................................................................... 1 British Rock Art News ............................................................................................................................. 2 World Rock Art on the Web: international news and links ......................................................................... 2 RAMP Launched ...................................................................................................................................... 4 BRAG Conference Report ....................................................................................................................... 5 24th Valcamonica Symposium: conclusions from the final session ............................................................. 6 Reindeers on The Gower ........................................................................................................................ 7 Inspired by Rock Art: your creative responses to cup and ring marks ......................................................... 8 Dates for your Diary: forthcoming conferences, day schools, and other events ........................................... 9 Rock Art Reads: new and forthcoming publications .................................................................................. 10
Gower Peninsula (Wales) Sept 2011 Found by Dr George Nash in a limestone cave on the Gower Peninsula, could these incised marks represent one of the earliest examples of rock art in Britain? Find out more in a report from George on page 6 (Photo credit: George Nash)
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RAMP launched
Tramped for miles through the heather looking for those elusive panels? Not quite sure youre at the right rock, or need help spotting the motifs? Just point your smart phone at the QR codes posted at three key sites in Northumberland and you can now access all the information and images you need for a more rewarding rock art experience. Read more on page 4.
The team also found detailed representations of cattle that probably date from the late Bronze Age when northern parts of the country were occupied by the Egyptian empire. Another set of carvings appears to be at least 5,000 years old and shows a mix of geometric designs, including spirals and some amorphous patterns which are not circular, perhaps representing animal hides. The team also identified several "rock gongs," large rocks that someone would have smacked a small rock against to make a sound. See full article and more images at www.livescience.com/14149-mysterious-ancient-rock-art-nile-river.html
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New Altamira? Spanish archaeologists have uncovered a collection of cave paintings in a well known cave near Maaria in northern Spain. The red paintings depict horses and human hands, and are believed to have been painted about 25,000 years ago, at the same time as the Altamira Cave paintings - the worldrenowned prehistoric paintings discovered in northern Spain in 1879. "It was a chance finding," said archaeologist Diego Garate of the Archaeological Museum of Biscay, in Bilbao. Concerned that activity at a nearby stone quarry had destroyed much of the cave of Askondo, Garate and Joseba Rios-Garaizar of the Max Planck Institute set out to determine if any archaeological material was still intact. Only on their way out of the cave did they notice the paintings that they and many others had missed before. Speleologists had worked in Askondo in the 1970s, and left their mark in the form of a bright red 3M7 used to catalogue the cave, but missed the art just inches away. National Geographic (May 13, 2011).
Photo credit: Diego Garate and Joseba Rios-Garaizar. For an interview with Garate, and more images see: newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2011/05/13/prehistoric-cave-artdiscovered-in-basque-country/
Australian Rock Art Register A national campaign to protect Australias rock art led by Griffith Universitys Professor Paul Taon was recently launched in Sydney with warnings that in less than 50 years, half of Australias valuable rock art sites could vanish. It is hoped that a new national heritage register of Australias estimated 100,000 rock art sites will enable better protection from vandalism or industrial and urban development. The register and digital archive will be a joint initiative between Griffith Universitys Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit and the Australian National Universitys Rock Art Research Centre. It will have strong links with Indigenous communities, museums, and other universities. Collaborative fieldwork between Aboriginal Australians, archaeologists and other scientists will take place across Australia. (Past Horizons, June 01, 2011).
For more information visit the Protect Australias Spirit website: www.protectaustraliasspirit.com.au Read more at www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/06/2011/campaign-to-save-australias-rock-art#ixzz1WEyrOVh3
Somalias rock art treasures Treacherous roads, landmines and deadly snakes no wonder rock art researcher Sada Mire employs guards armed with AK47s when she does her surveys! The only archaeologist working in the region, Sada, now 35, fled Mogadishu in 1991, aged 14, as Somalia descended into the chaos of civil war. She now has a fellowship in the department of art and archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and is head of the department of antiquities in the breakaway territory of Somaliland, in the north-west region of Somalia. The area has proved rich in archaeology, which Sada has been recording for the last four years with a team of 50 helpers. Sites include 100 rock art panels and she estimates that more than 1,000 such sites still await discovery. Driving her forward is the urge to uncover and preserve a cultural heritage that has been systematically looted, both in colonial times and more recently by warlords trading national heritage for guns.
These paintings at Dhambalin are the only example of ancient images of sheep in the region
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RAMP Launched
Calling all rock art enthusiasts: get out your mobile phones and head to Northumberland for a very different rock art experience! A sunny day in July saw the launch of Rock Art on Mobile Phones (RAMP), enabling visitors to access information and images in the field at three of the most interesting rock art locations in Northumberland via their mobile phones. The mobile websites are designed to help you to locate the panels, explore the motifs, and to reflect on them in new ways through diagrams, photographs, and the spoken word. The launch event brought together many of the participants who had contributed time and ideas to the design process, and heritage managers who had supported the project; Stan Beckensall was also on hand to answer questions.
Credit: Newcastle University
Debbie Maxwell, part of the team from Newcastle University (funded by the AHRC) who developed the new approach said:
RAMP has been a challenging project, theres no easy solution to developing a cultural heritage mobile phone experience in a rural setting. However, I hope we are in some way helping to enhance enjoyment of the rock art landscape, and instil a sense of respect around these ancient carvings through new technologies.
http://rockartmob.ncl.ac.uk The main desktop website http://rockartmob.ncl.ac.uk/r Lordenshaw mobile website designed for use at Lordenshaw http://rockartmob.ncl.ac.uk/w Weetwood Moor mobile website designed for use at Weetwood http://rockartmob.ncl.ac.uk/d Dod Law mobile website designed for use at Dod Law
Stan Beckensall with participants at the RAMP Launch. Image credit: RAMP on Flickr
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Carved panel at Scargill Low Moor , County Durham. Source: ERA website
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Reading rock art leads to an understanding of peoples mentalities, perceiving the cognitive world of man in various epochs and cultures and reconstructing the intellectual and spiritual journey of our species.
Conclusions of the final session, chaired by Emmanual Anati, July 2011.
The 24th Valcamonica Symposium was held in Capo di Ponte, Valcamonica, in July this year, providing an international focus for discussion and debate on prehistoric and tribal art. In the 1960s the first of these meetings brought the rock art of this small valley in the Italian Alps to an international audience; in 1979 the area was awarded the status of World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Participants at the 2011 event included students, scholars, museums curators, gallery curators, and art collectors; presentations covered disciplines ranging from linguistics to psychoanalysis.
British rock art on the world stage Contributors in Valcamonica hailed from 34 countries and five continents. Conspicuous by their absence were both British researchers and British rock art. Should we be taking a greater part in international conferences such as this? In their published account of the conclusions from the final session, the organizers note that research on prehistoric art has two aspects: a global one and a vernacular one relating to the local territory or ethnicity, both being of fundamental importance. Universal aspects
help us to understand the archetypes, the basic elements of the human cognitive system; vernacular aspects help us to identify the specificity of each ethnic groupWhat we try to understand is the human spirit. Understanding what unifies humanity is no less important than understanding what separates different cultures from one another.
World rock art database? In their concluding remarks the organizers note the need for international cooperation in order to
establish a data bank of prehistoric and tribal art, whose aim should be the advancement of culture, research and information. Extant data banks, already hosting thousands of images, can become nuclei of cooperative aggregation, providing we revitalise dead or lethargic archives and make them active and dynamicA consensus was found that the Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici, with the largest archive of world rock art and its biannual symposia is the location best suited for the world archive and the ideal place for the collection, development and distribution of data and innovation in research
The future Looking forward, the Symposia will encourage the development of thematic conferences in between
Symposia, and initiatives by groups of participants to produce publications, to fund research projects useful for the whole community working in the field of prehistoric and tribal art, to make progress in the methodologies of structural analysis, and to spread professional information and general culture.
Future Symposia will encourage a larger contribution relating to the ethnography of the art of contemporary non-literate people. The 25th Valcamonica Symposium will be held between the end of September and the beginning of October 2013; the theme will be conceptual and spiritual expressions of art.
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The stylized side-on view figure, measuring approximately 15 x 11cm is carved using a shape pointed tool, probably flint and has a number of characteristics that resemble carved reindeers found elsewhere in north-western Europe. The elongated torso has been in-filled with vertical and diagonal lines that cut into stabilized botryoidal calcite flowstone surface. A single vertical line appears to extend outside the area, between the torso and the antler set, representing a possible spear. Several internal diagonal lines extend below the lower section of the torso, merging to from three of the four legs; the longest measuring 4.5cm. Incorporated into the left side of the torso and continuing beyond is the head (or muzzle) of the reindeer comprising a thin rectangular block on which three lines extend to the right forming a stylized antler set. In the early part of 2011 the Open University team extracted three samples from the surface on which the engraving is placed for Uranium Series dating, along with a sample from a section of flowstone that covers part of the reindeer. A single date has revealed that this engraving was executed prior to a flowstone deposit which extends over the muzzle which dates to around 12, 572 + 600 years BP. A further sample was taken just left of the muzzle in July 2011. When dated, this sample will hopefully correlate with the first sample reading and tie-down a more precise date of when the flowstone developed over the head of the reindeer. My guess is that the reindeer is much earlier and could extend back as far as the Early Upper Palaeolithic, between 16 and 30,000 years at a time when the British climate was hostile. The assessment of the discoveries made so far is at an early stage. An accurate plan of the cave using 3D laser scanning technology is on-going; this technique may tease out more rock art. As part of next phase of the project, the reindeer will be recorded in greater detail and the hunt for more rock art will continue. Following this phase a management plan will be produced in order to assess the archaeological potential and secure the caves long-term future. The team is indebted to Cadw for providing financial assistance and to the National Museum of Wales for providing essential professional and academic support. We would also like to thank the various governmental agencies including the Forestry Commission (landowners) and Countryside Commission for Wales (CCW) for their invaluable support throughout this project. The Research Team included Project leader and prehistoric rock art specialist Dr George Nash (University of Bristol), Dating team Dr Peter van Calsteren (Open University), Dr Louise Thomas (Open University) and Geomorphologist Dr Mike Simms (National Museum of Northern Ireland).
[1] Unfortunately, due to the sensitivity of the discovery and its fragile ecology the site has to remain secret for the time-being. [2] So named after Professor Dorothy Garrod in 1926 and dating roughly between 12,000 and 12,600 BP
I personally reckon that all cup and ring carving must be to do with religion, ownership, or sex.... Unfortunately I never understood any of those.
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October - December University of Bradford AGES Research Seminars This series of lectures includes a few gems, listed here, that may interest rock art enthusiasts! The lectures will be held at the University of Bradford, Phoenix Building (SW), Room SA0.08 at 5.15pm. For the full listing see http://www.brad.ac.uk/AGES/Research/index.php/AGES/Seminars 1st Nov: Grooved Ware and Stonehenge, Dr Oliver Craig (University of York) 8th Nov: An unusual Late Bronze Age barrow excavation and research project at Blansby Park on the North Yorkshire Moors: 19602011, Dr Andrew 'Bone' Jones (York Archaeological Trust) 15th Nov: Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site - Recent, Nick Card (Orkney College UHI) 6th Dec: Recent work on the Neolithic of North Wales, Jane Kenney, (Gwynedd Archaeological Trust)
30th October Archaeology in the Lake District 2011 (organized by the National Park), Keswick. This is the 10th anniversary of the conference and will have a special theme: Surveying the High Ground. Prehistoric upland archaeology in the Lake District and beyond. Speakers will include Rachel Newman, Jamie Quartermaine, Phil Newman, John Hodgson, and Peter Topping. Held at the Theatre by the Lake, Keswick. Fee: 12.50 (18.75 including lunch). Parking voucher 2.60. For details and booking forms see: www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/index/learning/archaeology/archaeologynewsandevents/archaeologyevents/archaeologynews.htm
12th November Yorkshire Archaeology Annual day school held at Royal Armouries museum, Leeds by West Yorkshire Archaeology Services. The morning programme will present the results of recent archaeological work in West Yorkshire, including historic buildings surveys, as well as details of the recent work of the West and South Yorkshire Finds Liaison Officer. The afternoon programme will focus on the archaeology of some of West Yorkshire's older 'industries', starting with a talk by a leading scholar on the manufacture of prehistoric flint tools in the Middle Stone Age. Online registration is available. For more information contact Nicola Wharton, tel 0113 2898 267, email nwharton@wyjs.org.uk, web www.archaeology.wyjs.org.uk/wyjs-archaeology.asp. The cost is 15 per ticket.
19th November Prehistoric social networks Held by the Tyne-Forth Prehistory Forum at Great North Museum, Newcastle and concentrating on north-eastern England and south-eastern Scotland, and exploring the nature and scale of social networks across the region in order to try and understand past communities. For more information contact Rachel Crellin, email r.j.crellin@ncl.ac.uk. The cost is FREE. Lunch and refreshments provided.
23rd November Archaeology and the public realm Hosted by IPUP in partnership with The Department of Archaeology, University of York and held 1-6pm at Bowland Auditorium, Berrick Saul Building, Heslington East Campus. The conference highlights not only some of the depictions of archaeology and archaeologists in broadcast media, but also explores the ways in which archaeology can be a truly participatory, grass-roots, activity through involving community groups with excavation projects. Followed by a Drinks Reception in the Humanities Research Centre. For more information contact Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past, email ipup-enquiries@york.ac.uk, web www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/news-and-events/events/external/arch-public-realm/.
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17.99 www.amazon.co.uk/Rock-Art-Ritual-Mindscapes-Prehistory/dp/1445601885
An Animate Landscape: Rock Art and the Prehistory of Kilmartin, Argyll, Scotland by Andrew Meirion Jones, Davina Freedman, Blaze O'Connor,
Hugo Lamdin-Whymark, Richard Tipping and Aaron Watson From the Oxbow website: An Animate Landscape contains the results of a major research project that included excavations of two sites, Torbhlaren and Ormaig, and the analysis of radiocarbon dates to produce a more coherent chronological context, as well as taking a broader interpretative approach to the landscape. The book argues that the rock art is an active part of the process of socialising the landscape, in which the landscape became more organised from the Late Neolithic onwards, and that this organised landscape relates to broader cosmological concerns. The book is richly illustrated with colour drawings and photographs done by a series of artists to produce a unique visual record of the rock art and its place in the landscape, alongside more traditional archaeological enquiry.
ISBN-13: 978-1-905119-41-7 ISBN-10: 1-905119-41-0, 400p, 127 col & 44 b/w illus (Windgather Press, 2011)
Paperback. Not yet published - advance orders taken. Publishers price GB 38.00, Oxbow Price GB 30.95 www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/91134
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