Scotland's Rock Art Project (ScRAP)

Date 16 April 2021

Event ID 1128503

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Note

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1128503

Scotland’s Rock Art Project

Date Fieldwork Started: 16/04/2021

Compiled by: ACFA West Glasgow

Location Notes: The panel is situated on a hillside with a SE aspect beside a stone dyke which runs from the NE to the SW. The panel is reported to continue under the dyke to the SE but is currently covered with turf. A track runs along the opposite side of the dyke from the panel. The panel lies within an area of rough grass but is surrounded by several conifer plantations with new planting taking place. It is possible that the Firth of Clyde and Arran were visible to the west but there is a forestry plantation in the way today. The panel is situated approximately 200m N of an enclosure marked on the OS map (Canmore ID 41010). A cup and ring marked stone (Canmore ID 41022), currently in the Hunterian Museum, was found 30m ESE of the panel.

Panel Notes: The exposed area of the panel exposed measures 11.8 x 5.6m and is flush with the surrounding grass. Its long axis lies NE-SW. It is made of sandstone and there are quartz pebbles included in it. There are numerous fissures which appear to have been used to demarcate the areas of rock art. The panel is heavily eroded. There are 12 cups with 1 ring, 3 cups with partial rings, 6 cups with 2 rings, 3 spirals and 154 cupmarks (one with a radial) visible on the 3D models. A radial from a cupmark joins at right angles to a radial from a cup with 2 partial rings. The 3 spirals are on a sloping piece of rock unlike the other motifs. They are not normally visible in daylight but appeared clearly in the 3D model.

3D models were built for the areas of the panel that were depicted in figures 10 to 26 of Smith's 1895 book, as well as for the entire panel, which was depicted in the plan by Smith in Boyd and Smith (1887). Comparison of the original plan and individual figures with the 3D models show both the accuracy of the plan and figures, and also how much has been lost through weathering in the last 134 or so years. Most of the radials and a large number of rings and cups recorded by Smith are no longer visible. In particular, the motifs in figures 21, 23 and 25 are no longer visible. Some of the 'hoof-markings' mentioned by Smith are still visible but it is unclear now if they were designed as such.

References

Boyd, D.A. and Smith, J. (1887) 'Notice of a rock surface with cup-marks and other sculpturings, at Blackshaw, West Kilbride, Ayrshire', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol. 21, 1886-7. Page(s) 143-151

Smith, J. (1895) Prehistoric Man in Ayrshire