from icNewcastle
The huge archive built up by Stan Beckensall in decades of investigating rock art is being donated to the Museum of Antiquities at Newcastle University. Stan will be working with Aron Mazel, a researcher at the university’s school of historic studies, in creating a website so that the archive will be widely available. It includes photographs taken over 35 years, notebooks, rubbings, drawings and the books written by Stan on the subject.
“It contains every bit of information I have gathered over the years and it can now all go on the Internet,” said Stan. Stan and Aron will be revisiting and re-photographing hundreds of rock art sites in Northumberland. There are more than 600 records of rock art panels in the county. Aron said: “We want to make the material available to a wide range of people, including youngsters.
“Rock art has not been at the centre stage of archaeology and it deserves a lot more exposure. “It represents a real manifestation of human endeavour and a huge amount of time and labour was invested in its creation. We need more work on the motivation and meaning behind it and hopefully the website will encourage that.”
Recent discoveries in Cumbria are the subject of the latest book by Stan. Prehistoric Rock Art in Cumbria is published by Tempus at £16.99.
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