The Iranian Adventure

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the good wishes for our field trip to Iran. We came back last Thursday after a sleepless night between Tehran, Vienna and Amsterdam. Parts of our brain are still in Iran as is the heart after we experienced so much love and attention. We thought to go there for the rock art but it turned out that the people made the deepest impression. Especially the four nights in (rock art) Khomein. We became part of a large group of lovely people and could not escape their constant attention and care. It felt like a warm (family) bath.

To our surprise, a (state sponsered?) documentary film was made about our visit to the rock art area and our stay in Khomein. They will try to have it shown on the Rotterdam Film Festival in the end of 2008. Fun! Staying so close to the people as we did during our stay in Khomein gave us the opportunity to discover the ‘other’ Iran which is so different from what we learn from the western media. We are convinced that the other Iran is the real one; the people and the land!

I’ve mixed Gus’ photos and mine and produced a collection about all the things not being rock art. There are over 500 photos covering 12 days of an unforgettable trip. A slide-show will take about 45 minutes so take your time or check back. The real rock art collections (without people!) will follow; we need the correct names of the sites, etc.

For the field trip collection click: here

Greetings from Gus & Jan

Kilmartin April 2008

Hi Folks,

Suzanne and i were back up in Kilmartin last week, not only for the superb rock art, but also for my 40th birthday, god i do not feel that old. We were able to see some really nice rock art, standing stones, and believe it or not some glorious weather. My main targets were Blairbuie 2 and Poltalloch. Thankfully we found both, but i was especially glad to find Blairbuie 2, this did take us an hour or so to locate it. One thing that can be said is that Stan will be glad to know the yellow bucket is still there behind the tree..you do some weird things walking through forests. The photos from the trip will be seen on both BRAC & TMA                                                                                              

Blairbuie 2       

 

Cheers Brian & Suzanne

Greats

Good to see that BRAC finally has a Rock Arts greats section:

http://rockartuk.fotopic.net/c1269861.html

Rockartuk on the Move

Hi Folks,

We all know; Rock Art brings you to places! That counts also for our forthcoming trip to the area around Khomein in the Markazi province, 350km SSW of Tehran, Iran.

We were invited by Mr Mohammad Nasirifard, a former teacher who now writes books about prehistoric rock art in Iran. From of April 2007, we publish his photos in the

Iran collection of our sub-site “Worldwide Rock Art Selection”

We leave next Sunday (13th) and hope to be back around the 24th of April with a lot of nice photos and unforgettable memories.

So long,

Gus & Jan

New Find at Ketley Crags ?

Dashed down to Chatton in mid afternoon today - because the sky looked beautiful and I just fancied an hour or two mooching around. Managed to get some better shots of panel 5 but didn’t bother much with the main panels - apart from gazing respectfully. Then I wandered across to Ketley Crags because the low sun was very bright and very clear - and I thought I might get some even better shots - I did. I thought I would take a wider look at the boulders and outcrops on that slope, which have wonderful, swirly organic forms that must have appealed as much to our Neolithic ancestors as they do to me today. Found a few interesting things but nothing decisive. Then - I decided to go down the very bottom of the slope to look at a very large boulder - about 6 feet cubed - which is by far the most prominent rock at the base of the slope next to a wooden gate and a stone dyke. This is what I found on top of the boulder. I am hoping this is a new find because I can’t see any reference to this on BRAC. If it is already known I apologise.

It appears to be a carved basin with at least three rings around a central depression. The whole figure is about ten inches in diameter and there is a carved channel - possibly an enhancement of a natural feature - which drains the basin down the face of the boulder.

Here is a shot taken standing on top of the boulder looking vertically down. It gives more idea of the length of the carved channel.

There are what seem to be various cups pecked into the stone to the left of the basin

.OK here is a long shot taken from the boulder at the base of the entire slope -looking up to the main group of Ketley Crags with the existing Rock Art Shelter being in the very centre of those large outcrops. The monolith is plainly visible on Flash Earth, which gives its position as: Lat: 55 deg 33′ 44.3 N Long: 1deg 52′ 58.8″W

Here is a view from the known rock art panel looking down the slope to the massive boulder which is on the extreme right of the picture. This also gives a good idea of why this site is so beautiful.

I found some other interesting boulders of the ‘brain coral’ variety further along the slope, which to me suggest that artificial work has been done to enhance existing features, but I’m too tired to edit those pics now. Just wanted to share this with you all and - hopefully - get your views as to whether this is a ‘new’ find. If you think it is - then I suspect there is a possibly more to be discovered at Ketley since this is just 40 yards from the main rock art feature that has been known for many years.

Graham

Possible New Find, Chatton

I came across this basin with what appears to be an artificial channel alongside the main track which ascends Chatton Park Hill. It is about ten yards to the left of the landrover track and about 50 yards below the summit of the hill where the main carved panel is (1a). The channel is about 2″ wide and looks distinctly man-made.

Here is a more vertical shot of the same basin and channel - with a smaller circular, or horse-shoe shaped feature on the rock below it (which may be natural).

The Flash Earth reference is (approx) Latitude: 55 deg 33′ 15.3″ Longitude: 1 deg 52′ 50.7″

What do you think? Man made channel?

Easter on Chatton Park Hill

Happy Easter rock people,

Feeling weighed down with cabin fever - due to frequent hail, snow and wind showers over the last few days - decided to go and loiter near Wooler, check the garden centre (I was the only customer) and if there looked a break in the weather made a dash for Chatton. I did take photos of Chatton two weeks ago but the light was so poor it wasn’t worth using them.

I could see two great walls of snow clouds - about 10 miles apart - so drove to Chatton in light fluffy hail. Timed it perfect - ran up the hill and arrived in patches of glorious sunshine. Had about 15 minutes to snap away before a great wall of sweeping snow cloud bore down from the North East. Ran down and arrived back at the barn with one side of my face frozen. Certainly gets the blood going this rock art business.

Here is a sample shot.

Chattton Park Hill Panel 1a

Shaped Cups on Scarp Edge in front of main panel 1a. This is just ten feet forward of the ‘basin’ which lies at the top of the main channel on panel 1a. If you go to the top of the main rock pavement at Chatton (i.e. West) - there are a number of rocks emerging from the edge of the pavement. These small basins are about 6″ wide and appear to be ‘improved’ natural features, like the larger basin which feeds the channel that runs from top to bottom of panel 1a. The basin on the left has an obvious raised edge which is surely not natural? The one on the right has a sunken ring around the central cup. I assume these are not often mentioned because they are of little interest by comparison with the spectacular carvings just ten feet away?

So, dodging the snow showers was worth it - Chatton is an amazing place.

Graham

Northumberland From The Air

Hi Folks,

Just received the cover of Stan Beckensall’s latest book “Northumberland from the Air”, which will be published by Tempus in June/July. I haven’t seen the inside yet, but I would be surprised if there’s not a rock art chapter in it. Enjoy!

Old Lyham, Chatton, Kettley

Spring seemed to have sprung today so I set off ’stravaiging’ -
figuring I would head for one of the ‘empty spaces’ on the map - Old
Lyham Crags and Bowden Doors - using the logic that these are great
sandstone scarps with stunning views across the Milfield Plain - so why
are there no recorded cup and ring marks for these areas in Stan’s
definitive guide? This sandstone scarp is a beautiful place to visit -
strongly recommend anyone going there. I found that, as usual, a lot of
small scale quarrying had been done over the centuries; there were some
millstone ‘blanks’ on the crags as well. I also got the strong
impression that there has been massive wind, rain and ice erosion over
the centuries - it is very high and very exposed - so maybe any motifs
were just eroded?

Possible New Finds ?

I did find something that looks like a cup and ring. It is about 6 inches in
diameter and was right on the crag edge - but on a section where
quarrying had not taken place. It looks like one of those cases where a
natural basin has been adapted - as at Old Bewick - but I’m not sure
about it. Can’t see how the raised cup can have formed naturally?

On another part of Old Lyham Crags I found a row of what looked like
eroded cup markings. They are conical, shallow and soft edged - so I’m
pretty certain they are not anything to do with 19th C quarrying - they
don’t look like metal tools have made them and were on a stone
pavement that showed no sign of quarrying.

I realized that the front edge of the scarp was so badly eroded that it was unlikely anything would have survived here - so I looked on the

back slope. Nothing specific - but I found large piles of very large
‘grooved boulders’ (like miniature Duddo stones - which looked like
they may have originated from the scarp edge at some time. There seems
to be an association between the ‘brain coral’ kind of water erosion
that you see on the crag edges at places like Cuddy’s Cave, Goat Crags
and Dod Law - and rock art. These boulders are definitely
natural-eroded scarp-edge material - which raises the question why they
have been dumped on the back slope? Wonder if any of you have surveyed
Old Lynham or Bowden Doors. It feels like there ’should’ be rock art
here - but there isn’t any recorded?

Kettley Crags

I decided to give Bowden Doors a miss then went across to Chatton Park
Hill - which was superb - but the light was not good for photography.
Found the large enclosure and got some pics of Chatton 4. Then - as it
was gone 4.30pm I decided to make a last push for Ketley Crags - even
though the light was poor by now. It took me ten minutes to find it -
and it was largely Stan’s emphasis on badgers that drew me to the
correct rock - big badger excavations all around. To say I was ‘blown
away; by Kettley would be an understatement - Stan Beckensall’s comment
that ‘this is one of the greatest rock art sites in the whole world’ is
not an exaggeration. This is truly, truly amazing. Then to cap it all
the sun dropped below the thick bank of cloud that had hidden it for
the last two hours - and I got the most superb sidelighting for my
first visit to Ketley. Here are a couple of shots.

I did hurry off to try and find Chatton 5 & 6 - did find the latter
but light was fading fast. All in all a wonderful first visit.

Weetwood 6 - New Find?

After my trip to Fowberry yesterday I went over to Weetwood Moor and revisited the main motifs. At one point it started to rain and I ran for shelter into the woodland where the Weetwood Panel 6 motifs are. After the rain I walked back along the rock outcrop where it leaves the wood and runs back towards the main area of panels at Weetwood. Just outside the wood - on the outcrop edge - I noticed what look like faint traces of rings on a large boulder outcrop - about 10 metres from the wood edge. Do you think this is a ring pattern or just natural? when I ran my fingers over it I could feel what seemed like concentric circles. Wishful thinking?

The suspected motif is about 8″ in diameter. My eye was drawn to it by the circular patch of lichen and the low angle light which seemed to reveal circle patterns and pecks. It is very close to the two large motifs which are inside the edge of the wood - and the outcrop is a continuation of the main rock which they are carved on.