Copt Howe: calling Chris Collyer!

Copt Howe 5

Image by broen

IronMan Aug 23, 2003 13:28:35

eyup!

After viewing your wonderful drawing of the rock art at Copt Howe, and reading your comments, I found myself drawn back to the idea that this could be a map. I'd gone cold on it since posting to be honest, but looking back now, I'm kind of split as to whether the idea does in fact work.

Looking at Stan Beckensalls drawing, it seems there are two layers, the fainter marks possibly being from an older carving. Your own drawing highlights the 'top' layer, which is the most interesting in terms of the map idea.

I posted a rough map of the Mickleden end of Langdale Valley yesterday, with contour lines deliberately left out, to try to figure how the two could correlate. It seems to work, the only problem being that it actually works at a number of scales! Finding the one which works best, and more importantly, one which would be of any use, is the problem. The annotated photograph from last year is now my least favourite interpretation, to be honest.

I intend to revisit the map over the next week or so, 'cause I'm not at all happy with the one I've produced, it was done in a rush, and looks like it (there are a few mistakes, and it's a bit difficult to read).

Another idea I've had is to go back to Langdale soon, walk the valley from Copt Howe to the axe factory, and try to make a map(s) based purely on observation. I know the area pretty well, so it'd be safe for me to disregard my OS map entirely, and work from sight and with the feel of the place (perceived distance, height, size etc.) I think this would yield some far more interesting results. If this was in fact a map, it would no doubt have been produced in a similar way, without the use of measuring equipment etc. Obviously, the condition of the Langdale valley (trackways, trees etc.) is much different now, but I reckon it's still worth a try. Also, it might be worth putting together some kind of visual essay, using photography to illustrate these observations. Whadda ya think?

Ta very much for reminding me of this, by the way :-)
IM

"Meanwhile the rock is there, it is large, and it controls, visually, the comings and goings in one of the most important prehistoric valleys in the world." Stan Beckensall. Prehistoric Rock Art in Cumbria. p47.

Chris Collyer Aug 23, 2003 23:03:37

Replying to IronMan

eyup yourself IM!

I spent a long time scratching my head over it too before giving up. I tried various things with the plan and maps and aerial photo’s of the area. I gave the plan a transparent background and overlayed in on the OS map hoping to get the features to match up and tried spinning it round and rescaling it but I couldn’t get a definitive match to leap out at me. Trying to think which landscape features would be important to the people at the time had me thinking that some of the carvings could represent lakes or even waterfalls but without knowing what each feature represented or what kind of scale the whole design is meant to cover it’s difficult. My guess is that if it is a map it would probably represent a distance that could be walked within a day or two at most which limits the number of landscape features and the scale but also makes me think there might be other similar carving in the area that haven’t been discovered yet. Also if we accept that the individual features carved on the rock are only roughly spatially right in relation to each other then its tempting to shift them around a bit to fit any number of different interpretations (which is what I did). Using a pick’n’mix approach with hills lakes and streams I could get most of the features to match up but eventually realised I had the whole thing back to front. I was looking at the map with Langdale to the left, Chapel Stile to the right with the rock in the middle and working from Stan’s plan – the carver stood at the rock would of course have those places the other way round – doh!

One thing that occurred to me was that if it was a local population (very probable) mining the axes then they may have wanted to keep the location to themselves, they wouldn’t have wanted any Tom, Dick or Oetzi coming along and helping themselves with the aid of a large signposted rock. The Langdale axes seem to have been seen as prestige items and must have had a high exchange value to the people mining them so would they have mined the blanks to be collected from here by traders (in which case some kind of map *would* be useful to people coming into the area) or were they transporting them themselves – they would be familiar with the local area and not need a map, which raises the possibility that the marks could represent parts of a ritual landscape instead rather than a physical one.

Anyway, I’m still with the map theory and I think you’ve hit on a great idea of walking the area without maps and drawing it out based on your own visual observations. I’m not that familiar with the area so I’ve had to stick with the maps and it’s difficult for me to figure out the exact lay of the land from above, so to speak. Some kind of 3D terrain plan might help but a ground based approach to drawing the area should give a very different perspective that might be more in line with the way the population would have chosen to represent the area. When you do it, it might be worth starting further east than Copt Howe to see if you can find anything that might correspond with the carvings on the left of the rock, for instance is the triangular patch of tiny pick marks meant to represent something or is it just decorative?

It sounds like an excellent idea for a weblog too :-)

-Chris