Almost certainly nonsense

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fitzcoraldo F
fitzcoraldo Jan 31, 2006 21:00:46
Replying to nigelswift

Blagged from Rock Art in the British Landscape
http://groups.msn.com/rockartinthebritishlandscape/home.msnw

In his book "The Prehistoric Rock Art of Galloway & The Isle of man", Morris gives 104 explanations (some written as a statement!) and gives them his "personal assessment of the probability that each idea is correct" through marks out of ten. Since a lot of references are made to this book, all the explanations will be given in the same sequence as in the book. Morris' Rating: 10 = a certainty or nearly so, 5 = reasonably sensible idea which may or may not be true, 0 = quite impossible.

Burials (10), Standing stones (9), Alignment markers (10), Astronomy (9), Re-use in burial (9), Early prospectors (8), Early prospectors aids (8), Belief in after-live (8), Religious and magical (7), Uniform religious or magical significance (6), Breasts (4), Mother Goddess (4), Eyes (4), Phallic symbols (3), Fertility symbols; 'sperm entering the egg'(2), Fertility rites (3), Marks of sexual prowess (0), Circumcision ceremony (1), Sex symbols (0), Sun symbol (6), Sun God (5), Baal (5), Water divining (0), Mixing Vessels for bronze (2), Mixing vessels for pigments (4), Quantity measures (1), Freemasons 'earliest' marks (0), Sacred food & wine holders (5), Fertility rites (Indian) (0), Copies of worm casts (2), Copies of tree rings (2), Copies of ripples from a stone thrown into a pool (2), Druids (5), Use by Druids (5), Blood sacrifice (4), Code (5), Water time-signals (1), Clocks (1), Pictographs or hieroglyphs (6), Early writing (0), Messages from outer space (0), Megalithis inch (9), All measured in or founded on megalithic inches (0), Right angle triangles (9), Equilateral triangles (6), Code (1), Spirals are two-centre half-circles or ellipses(7), Different races made them (7), Bonfire ritual site markers (6), Search for food (2), Seed production (1), Early pilgrimage marks (1), Dye-transfer moulds (6), Metal moulds (0), Maps of the countryside (1), Building plans (0), Star Maps (1), Emblems (5), Tattooists' patterns(5), Decorations (5), Doodles (2), An elderly man's screen (2), Boundery Markers (5), Route markers (5), Tribal convention commemorators (3), Mithras worship (0), Shields (0), Gaming tables (3), Marbels (3), Anular brooches (3), Animistic carvings (0), Primitive lamp bases (5), Water worship (5), Cattle worshuip (2), Marks of piety (5), Re-use of a long dead superstition (5), Monuments of the dead (1), Natural (0), Hidden treasure (0), Plans for megalithis structures (0), Plans for laying out mazes (0), Field ploughing plans (0), Oath marks (5), Victory Marks (1), Masons'marks (0), Adder Lairs (0), Knife-sharpening marks (0), An early form of music notation (0), Tuning device (0), Early astronomers's night memoranda (2), Birth, growth, life and death symbol (5), A locked-up force (0), The stone circle builders carved them (8), Healing Magic (5), Casts for making bronze (3), Sea Goddess worship (1), Mirror (5), Wells (0), Child carvings (0)

F FourWinds
FourWinds Jan 31, 2006 21:07:49
Replying to fitzcoraldo

He seems pretty down on anything sexual or religious, but an interesting list nonetheless.

F FourWinds
FourWinds Jan 31, 2006 21:13:17
Replying to fitzcoraldo

I know the book is about British stuff, but does he suggest that the list and marks apply only to British RA?

The Spanish and Irish stuff is somewhat different, but does a different style mean different meaning? Couldn't that be just regional differences?

Also, Passage Tomb Art went through at least two distinct style phases at Knowth, with earlier mofifs being overlayed at a later stage (some suggestion that the stones were reused). The early motifs were incised and the later ones pecked (I think that's the right order).

H Hob
Hob Jan 31, 2006 23:28:04
Replying to fitzcoraldo

I'm dead glad you typed all that up Fitz,

I was gonna, but I'm pleased I didn't now. Nice one.

In a way, I reckon that list may have contributed to most academics are scared off the idea of trying to interpret RA for fear of ridicule. Which is odd, because the way I'd been told, academics like nowt better than a nice nebulous subject upon which one can theorise endlessly, publish prolifically, and never really have much chance of ever being proven wrong.