Ormaig 3

Date Fieldwork Started: 22/07/2019

Compiled by: Ulterior Motifs

Location Notes: Ormaig 3 lies in it's original location on a sloping hillside with a SW aspect. There is other rock art in the area, with Ormaig 1, 2 and 4 all within 10m. Ormaig 1 lies 10m SW, Ormaig 2 is 3m E and Ormaig 4 is 2m NE. The hillside was formerly used as forestry but the area with panels 1-4 is now felled. The panel has clear views to the North over Loch Craignish. It also has clear views uphill to the NE to a coniferous tree line approx. 50m away. The panel is easily accessed from the forest road by a 5 minute walk along the burnside and has some signage with interpretation panels at the start of the path.

This record also documents two fragments (one with a third broken section) of this outcrop which were recovered during the 2007 excavations which are now within the Kilmartin Museum collections.

Panel Notes: The panel lies flush with the ground with a SW aspect. The panel is split into 2 distinct sections by the root of a felled tree (on the E side of the panel). it is a hard schist with a medium grain size and no visible occurrences. Surface features include some natural cracks and fissures. The motifs are difficult to discern and describe as they are linked by a group of grooves. On the Southern side of the root there are 6 definite and 2 possible cupmarks. To the Northern side of the root there are 13 small cupmarks, 1 large cupmark, 5 partial cup and rings, 3 straight grooves and one arrow shaped groove. The motifs on this panel are often joined by intersecting grooves and ring marks.

In addition to the in-situ panel, during the 2007 excavations at Ormaig by Kilmartin Museum two fragments of rock from this area (recorded as exposure 5 in the Kilmartin Museum Ormaig Excavation DSR) were recorded to have come lose post forestry activity. The trees had been planted up to the known extent of the site, but during the 2007 excavation it was revealed that the tree roots had pried apart and broken these two fragments away. These two fragments have been deposited with Kilmartin museum (currently un-accessioned), but have been recorded by the ScRAP project. Both fragments have rock art motifs: the larger (0.5m by 0.1m) has two cups marks and the smaller (0.3m by 0.2m has a long linear groove. An additional fragment has broken off of this smaller piece.