Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-5g6vh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T13:12:22.569Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Prehistoric Rock Art of Great Britain: A Survey of All Sites Bearing Motifs more Complex than Simple Cup-marks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2014

Ronald W. B. Morris
Ronald W. B. Morris*
Affiliation:
22 Belmont Rd, Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire PA13 4LZ
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The prehistoric rock art of Great Britain — England, Scotland and Wales — is surveyed, with specific reference to the over 900 sites bearing motifs more complex than cup-marks alone and apparently random grooves. Of sites bearing cup-marks alone, there are at least 700.

The majority of motifs is geometric, with a few animals, weapons and human hands and footprints. Two main groups are recognized, the Boyne or Passage Grave type and the Galician type. The former occurs mainly on the slabs of Neolithic tombs, especially in Ireland, and includes spirals, rings, lozenges, zigzags and flower-like figures, only some of which occur in Britain. The latter is more restricted in design, with mainly cup-and-rings, rings, and spirals, usually on rock outcrops and boulders. A third group is recognized by some workers, in which cist and burial stones are carved with mostly the Boyne type, but sometimes with Galician or simple cup-marks or a mixture of these. There is also occasional overlap between Galician and Boyne types, occurring on natural rocks and tombs.

The main characteristics, locations in relation to topography and archaeology, and distribution are detailed. Dating and significance are briefly discussed.

Most of the art occurs in a central belt of Britain, but within that it is recognized as being distributed spatially among 16 main regions which are defined both geographically and with regard to concentrations of sites.

There is a gazetteer of all sites, similarly arranged.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , 1989 , pp. 45 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bateman, T. 1861. Ten Years' Digging. London: J. R. Smith.Google Scholar
Beckensall, S. 1974. The Prehistoric Carved Rocks of Northumberland. Newcastle upon Tyne: Frank Graham.Google Scholar
Beckensall, S. 1983. Northumberland's Prehistoric Rock Carvings. Rothbury: Pendulum Publications.Google Scholar
Beckensall, S. 1986. Rock Carvings of Northern Britain. Princes Risborough: Shire Publications Ltd. Google Scholar
Bednarik, R. G. 1987. Further comment. Rock Art Research 4, 159.Google Scholar
Brown, P. L. 1976. Megaliths, Myths and Men. Poole: Blandford Press.Google Scholar
Burl, A. 1976. Stone Circles of the British Isles. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Burl, A. 1979. Rings of Stone. London: Frances Lincoln Publishers.Google Scholar
Burl, A. 1981. Rites of the Gods. London: Dent.Google Scholar
Clarke, D. L. 1970. Beaker Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland. I, II. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cowling, E. T. 1946. Rombald's Way. Otley: W. Walker.Google Scholar
Crawford, O. G. S. 1925. The Long Barrows of the Cotswolds. Gloucester: Bellows.Google Scholar
Crawford, O. G. S. 1959. The Eye Goddess. London: Phoenix House.Google Scholar
Critchlow, K. 1979. Time Stands Still. London: Gordon Frazer.Google Scholar
Dixon, D. D. 1903 (reprinted 1979). Upper Coquetdale. Newcastle upon Tyne: Graham.Google Scholar
Dorn, R. I. and Whitley, D. S. 1983. Cation-ratio dating of petroglyphs from the Western Great Basin, North America. Nature 302 (28), 816–19.10.1038/302816a0Google Scholar
Evans, J. 1874 (2nd edn, 1915). Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments. London: Longmans.Google Scholar
Feacham, R. W. 1963 (2nd edn, 1977). Guide to Prehistoric Scotland. London: Batsford.Google Scholar
Fell, B. 1985. Ogam Consaine in western Scotland. Occasional Papers of the Epigraphic Society 14. California.Google Scholar
Greenwell, W. 1877. British Barrows. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V. 1958. Archaeology in Wessex. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Grinsell, L. V. 1959. Dorset Barrows. Dorchester: Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society.Google Scholar
Hadingham, J. 1975. Circles and Standing Stones. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Haigh, A. et al. 1987. Carved Rocks of Rombalds Moor. Ilkley Archaeological Group.Google Scholar
Henshall, A. 1963 and 1972. Chambered Tombs of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Houlder, C. 1974. Wales: An Archaeological Guide. London: Faber.Google Scholar
Marsden, B. 1971. Discovering Regional Archaeology: North West England. Tring: Shire Publications.Google Scholar
Morris, R. W. B. 1977. The Prehistoric Rock Art of Argyll. Poole: Dolphin Press (now Blandford Press).Google Scholar
Morris, R. W. B. 1979. The Prehistoric Rock Art of Galloway and the Isle of Man. Poole: Blandford Press.Google Scholar
Morris, R. W. B. 1981. The Prehistoric Rock Art of Southern Scotland. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports 86.Google Scholar
Munro, R. 1899. Prehistoric Scotland. Edinburgh: Blackwood.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. 1954. Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Piggott, S. 1971. Excavation of the Dalladies long barrow. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 104, 23–46.Google Scholar
Powell, T. G. E. 1956. Barclodiad y Gawres. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.Google Scholar
Pritchard, V. 1967. British Mediaeval Graffiti. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ritchie, G. and Ritchie, A. 1972. Edinburgh and South Eastern Scotland. London: Heinemann Educational Books.Google Scholar
Scott, J. G. 1966. South Western Scotland. London: Heinemann Educational Books.Google Scholar
Simpson, J. 1867. Archaic Sculptures. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas.Google Scholar
Smith, J. 1895. Prehistoric Man in Ayrshire. London: Stock.Google Scholar
Spratt, D. A. 1982. The Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology of North-East Yorkshire. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, BS 104.Google Scholar
Spratt, D. and Burgess, C. 1985. Upland Settlement in Britain. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.Google Scholar
Tate, G. 1864. Ancient British Rocks of Northumberland. Alnwick: Privately published.Google Scholar
Thom, A. 1968. The geometry of cup-and-ring marks. Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society (new series) 16, 77–88.Google Scholar
Thomas, S. 1965. Pre-Roman Britain. London: Studio Vista.Google Scholar
Wilson, D. 1863. Prehistoric Annals. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Williams-Freeman, J. 1915. Introduction to Field Archaeology. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Woodward, P. J. and Smith, R. J. C. 1987. Survey and excavation along the route of the southern Dorchester by-pass, 1986–1987. An interim note. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 109, 79–89.Google Scholar