This week I reached an understanding with prehistoric rock art.
Not, you understand, an understanding of prehistoric rock art, which would be a different thing entirely. My conversion has been sudden, and as much emotional as rational, probably more so. Let me try to explain.
Not, you understand, an understanding of prehistoric rock art, which would be a different thing entirely. My conversion has been sudden, and as much emotional as rational, probably more so. Let me try to explain.
Prehistoric rock art on Chattonpark Hill. Photo by A Curtis (2009).
I first discovered Northumberland's rich array of prehistoric rock carvings in the early 1990s when we came to live here from Edinburgh. I was interested in maps and the outdoors and was intrigued by a couple of thin paperback books obtained from the little bookshop in the old Museum of Antiquities under the arches of Newcastle University. The two volumes (one blue and one yellow) were by Stan Beckensall, published in 1991, entitled: Prehistoric Rock Motifs of Northumberland: A Complete Guide. Finding the carved rocks from Stan's descriptions and maps became a passion and led me to some outstandingly beautiful places. Both the places and some of the carved rocks have since become good friends, worthy of repeat visits from time to time.
Apart from one possible example in north Northumberland, all the carved motifs in the county are symbolic rather than representational, of the type known as cup and ring. Most of the carvings are in situ, on outcrops and large boulders in the sandstone uplands, although some are on smaller rocks, even portable, and some associated with other archaeological monuments such as burial cairns, cist burials and standing stones. In Northumberland, and many of these other areas, the carved rocks are seldom on their own, usually in groups, and often large groups.
 Tod Crag. Photo by A Curtis (2005). |  Millstone Burn. Photo by A Curtis (2006). |
I soon found there were other people out there, mostly amateurs, interested in the carved rocks. There was a loose group of enthusiasts with a huge knowledge and understanding. Once a year in the spring there would be an informal Rock Art Meeting (RAM) held on a different site, The driver for these was Jan Brouwer and a friend from the Netherlands. Jan ran the British Rock Art Blog and compiled a comprehensive website of rock art photographs, taken by himself and friends over the country. With this group I visited many sites in Northumberland, Durham, Galloway, Argyll, Perthshire and Yorkshire. All the rock art was similar; cup and ring motifs were common, but often with local variation or style.
 Old Bewick. Photo by A Curtis (2005). |  Old Bewick. Photo by A Curtis (2008). |
Most of the existing photography seemed to concentrate on the carvings themselves, but for me both the carving and its location were important. The places held a magic that was enhanced by the mystery of the carved rocks. The group showed me the influence of light and water on the rock surfaces to improve my photography of the carvings, conditions often necessary to see them at all, if highly eroded.
Stan Beckensall was deservedly awarded an honorary PhD from the University of Newcastle in 2004. His archive was donated to the University and made available on a pioneering website in 2006, the work of Aron Mazel. Later, I was able to volunteer for the Northumberland & Durham Rock Art Project (N&DRAP), joining other volunteers, several who have become good friends. We spent 3 years building on this earlier work and developing a method of 3-dimesnional photographic reconstruction (photogrammetry) with the assistance of English Heritage. The result was the England's Rock Art website (ERA).
 Gled Law. Photo by A Curtis (2006). |  Hunterheugh. Photo by A Curtis (2005). |
Recent years have shown much more interest in our prehistoric rock art heritage from the professional archaeology community and I have had the opportunity to read some of their work and go to occasional conferences. The carvings have been hard to date but some excavations of rock art sites put them in the Early Bronze Age and possibly even further back into the Neolithic. Further back of course, in the times of the hunter gatherer communities, when much of Britain was covered in ice, caves on the continent and in a few places in Britain were decorated with much more representational art. The Neolithic was a time of woodland clearance and early farming. These people carved cup and ring symbols on Northumberland rocks.
These people had the same intelligence and ability as we do today.. Modern genetics has shown that many of the inhabitants of these islands are indeed direct descendants of these earlier people. Emotion, superstition and cultural traditions probably paid much more importance in their lives but are still within us.
These people had the same intelligence and ability as we do today.. Modern genetics has shown that many of the inhabitants of these islands are indeed direct descendants of these earlier people. Emotion, superstition and cultural traditions probably paid much more importance in their lives but are still within us.
All the work has looked for correlation between the motifs and the locations to find a meaning and purpose for the art. We have examined their distribution, relationships to water, mineral deposits, the sea, track-ways, transhumance, existing monuments and domestic buildings. We have examined the orientation and slope of the rocks and inter-visibility of the sites. We have speculated on the numbers of rings, which way the grooves run, and on alignments and a whole lot of other things.
Lordenshaw. Photo by A Curtis (2006).
Where then has my new understanding come from this week?
Firstly, because of an injury to our booked speaker, I agreed to do an impromptu talk on rock art to this Local History Society meeting on Monday 10th September. After a bit of a break from rock art I had to go back through some of my old material, photos and books.
Secondly, by chance, there was a conference on rock art held as a surprise 80th birthday party for Stan Beckensall held in Queen's Hall Arts Centre in Hexham on Saturday 15 September.
Firstly, because of an injury to our booked speaker, I agreed to do an impromptu talk on rock art to this Local History Society meeting on Monday 10th September. After a bit of a break from rock art I had to go back through some of my old material, photos and books.
Secondly, by chance, there was a conference on rock art held as a surprise 80th birthday party for Stan Beckensall held in Queen's Hall Arts Centre in Hexham on Saturday 15 September.
Like turning the focus wheel of your binoculars, the mist of speculation and conflicting theories has suddenly lifted; in my mind at least.
Northumberland's cup and ring carvings are clustered in certain places. These places retain an emotional power which for me is a combination of location, views, wildlife, loneliness and their raw beauty. This is magnified by the history of what has gone before - the continuity of community.
Stan describes this in his book, Northumberland: The Power of Place (2001):
'Places generate feelings: some do this because we have learnt what happened there, some because they are physically striking or beautiful, and others because they have some indefinable attraction or quality.'
Stan describes this in his book, Northumberland: The Power of Place (2001):
'Places generate feelings: some do this because we have learnt what happened there, some because they are physically striking or beautiful, and others because they have some indefinable attraction or quality.'
Jan Brouwer became ill and died at home in Holland in April 2011. The group of which he was an important part felt the need to provide a lasting memorial. What better than a rock-carved symbol, of importance both to our group and himself, in a location with equally powerful resonance. This we did in a small ceremony in Spring 2012.
So my hypothesis is this. Cup and ring carvings are just places of remembrance. The meaning of the symbol has been lost to us over the millennia. Like the Christian cross or fish, it probably held layers of meaning to the people who used it, something we can no longer grasp. Perhaps the places were actually cemeteries but we have little evidence that their dead were buried in the vicinity. Burial cairns from later people are often located nearby . Perhaps they were places where cremated ashes were scattered, or perhaps disposal of bodies went on elsewhere. Depending on belief, the body might not be necessary for the spirit to continue.
 Lordenshaw. Photo A Curtis (2008). |  Buttony. Photo A Curtis (2006). |
The powerful site with its carved rocks would become an important place in the community. It might be in a high place above where they normally lived. Places to think and remember, seek assistance from departed family members or just rest. It is unlikely death was hidden or unusual, it was probably an ever near part of the cycle of life. The places themselves may of course have been chosen because of prior importance, on route-ways, view points or with agricultural connections.
 Weetwood Moor. Photo A Curtis (2006). |  Hunterheugh. Photo A Curtis (2007). |
It's not a new theory and certainly not mine. As a hypothesis, can it be tested? What evidence do we need to prove it or disprove it? It seems to me to explain many things: the locations, the distribution, the local styles with their common elements, the fact that some are artistic and some crude or fragmentary.They could have been made by different individuals with different abilities, some maybe even by children.
Prehistoric rock art has been a very personal journey of discovery. I have tried here to exclude facts (it's getting easier these days) and just follow a gut feeling. Go and sit for a time in quiet refection on Chatton Park Hill, in Kettley Crag rock shelter, on the ridge at Old Bewick, at Routing Lynn, on Weetwood Moor, or in one of the many other magic places you know about, and see what you think. Bereavement makes for powerful emotions. Powerful symbols shared between living and dead carved as a lasting memorial, creating a place to visit, reflect and consult.
Prehistoric rock art has been a very personal journey of discovery. I have tried here to exclude facts (it's getting easier these days) and just follow a gut feeling. Go and sit for a time in quiet refection on Chatton Park Hill, in Kettley Crag rock shelter, on the ridge at Old Bewick, at Routing Lynn, on Weetwood Moor, or in one of the many other magic places you know about, and see what you think. Bereavement makes for powerful emotions. Powerful symbols shared between living and dead carved as a lasting memorial, creating a place to visit, reflect and consult.
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