Are there any recorded "prehistoric" carvings in the UK of anything other than cups and spirals?...Other than things like the Cissbury paintings, I can't think of anything carved..the oldest I know for sure being pictish...anyone more clued up?

Resonox wrote:
Are there any recorded "prehistoric" carvings in the UK of anything other than cups and spirals?...Other than things like the Cissbury paintings, I can't think of anything carved..the oldest I know for sure being pictish...anyone more clued up?
There is an intricately carved axe head in the European Prehistory Room at the Ashmolean in Oxford (in the same display case as the exquisite jadeite axe heads) - Bronze Age I think, though may be later. When I say carved I mean that the cutting edge of the axe head has small engraved markings on it; definitely worth taking a look.

Creswell Crags:

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/36611/creswell_crags.html

Do you mean figurative rather than (what appears to us) abstract? Here's a few -
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/11311/goatscrag.html
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/3067/creswell_crags.html

there's axes and a dagger at Stonehenge-
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/609/stonehenge_graffiti_dagger_stone.html

there's supposed to be a couple of axes(?) carved in relief at Boscawen-un but I've never seen pictures of them. For the foot fetishists there's these -
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/3258/pool_farm_cist.html
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/248/calderstones.html

I think there are some figurative carvings in Scotland but the sites escape me at the moment.

-Chris

Resonox wrote:
Are there any recorded "prehistoric" carvings in the UK of anything other than cups and spirals?...Other than things like the Cissbury paintings, I can't think of anything carved..the oldest I know for sure being pictish...anyone more clued up?
oh thought of some more :)

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/12799/deaths_head_rock.html

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/95/swastika_stone.html

Resonox wrote:
Are there any recorded "prehistoric" carvings in the UK of anything other than cups and spirals?...Other than things like the Cissbury paintings, I can't think of anything carved..the oldest I know for sure being pictish...anyone more clued up?
Stan (The Man) Beckensall has glossaries of rock art elements in several of his books. The weirdest we've seen are on page 14 of his "British Prehistoric Rock Art". Just looking at it here there are some pretty strange motifs:- Pudding bowl with squid, TV set showing stick men, car radiator grille with headlights, comet, traffic bollard, etc.
The symbol interpretations are ours of course, no doubt academia has posh names for these motifs (probably the same as ours, only in latin).

Maggie & Keith

Resonox wrote:
Are there any recorded "prehistoric" carvings in the UK of anything other than cups and spirals?...Other than things like the Cissbury paintings, I can't think of anything carved..the oldest I know for sure being pictish...anyone more clued up?
First pic here do ?
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/73712/menteith.html#comments

Orkney has quite a collection of geometric stuff , probably more of it elsewhere that has gone unrecognised .

Resonox wrote:
Are there any recorded "prehistoric" carvings in the UK of anything other than cups and spirals?...Other than things like the Cissbury paintings, I can't think of anything carved..the oldest I know for sure being pictish...anyone more clued up?
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/28113/aberdeenshire.html