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Rubha Charnain

Call me a miserable old cynic..

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goffik G
goffik Jun 22, 2006 06:35:51
Replying to Rhiannon

Hi all

Some really good points being raised here!

After my visit here, I'm quite convinced that these are something other than natural markings. Partly, as mentioned before, because these rocks are the ONLY ones in the area of (I'm no geologist, but) exactly the same rock-type. And partly because they look exactly like all the other countless cupmarks I've ever seen! (Although, again - I'm no expert!)

I suspect that most doubts regarding the shape/distribution could be largely due to the erosion. Remember though - this is RIGHT on the edge of a really exposed bit of land in the far west of the Hebrides. And we know what the wind/rain/waves can be like in that neck of the woods!

I've posted a couple more pics from my phone which may help clarify or confound...

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/47296 and
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/47295

G x

R rockartuk
rockartuk Jun 22, 2006 17:24:25
Replying to goffik

Hi Goffik,
I support your idea; these are man-made carvings, some enhanched to bait-mortars, some eroded almost out of shape but, indeed, original "rock art".
If only the design in the following photo was found on an outcrop in Northumberland, it would have been called a 'hybrid rosette'!
(http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/47295)
Furthermore, this feature is not restricted to the Western Isles. Mr F.R. Coles noted cup-and-ring marks on rocks below the high water mark on Little Ross island (NX 659 342), South of Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway (PSAS 29, 1894-5, p. 68). And although they were not found during the RCAHMS's survey in 1911 nor by Morris and Bailey in 1967, Coles didn't see black cats but C&R's and he knew how they looked!
Was it a lonely fisherman who used them for his bait? Probably not because Little Ross island was inhabited in prehistoric times and the isle id known for the rig-and-furrow cultivations.
Cheers,
Jan

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