tiompan

400m north of themodernantiquarian.com/site/18310/gladsax_91.html and clearly visible from it .
The passage ,at 136 degrees , is one of the few with a possible winter solstice sunrise alignment .
The capstone has 11 ships ,animal figures and 90 cup marks .
Finds included a large amount of ceramic, flint fragments, 5 amber pearls, 3 arrows , 2 pins and a slate pendant.

A group of nine Bronze Age barrows and five urn graves discovered in 1934 and recently cleared .
Finds were human remains , bronze knives tweezers and a tutulus (circular bronze ornament with projecting central point , associated with female burials e.g. Egtved girl . See :
youtube.com/watch?v=x5SwWPu2So8&feature=player_embedded#! )

Hellig Kvinde (trans.) Holy woman and the other smaller stones in the open (to the west ) rectangular setting , her children .
The adjacent broken stone could have been the bodach (Hellig Mand ) to the cailleach but goes unmentioned .

The main panel at Järrestad is probably the most important in Skåne . Measuring approx 25 x20m it consist of nearly 210 foot soles ,130 of which have toes ,riders on horseback , animals , wheeled crosses , 4 spirals ,27 ships , weapons , cup marks ,serpentiforms ,axes ,lurer and the “Dancer ” .

There are approx 50 standing stones . There has never been any excavation and there is no site plan that I’m aware of . A very superficial attempt at a survey shows a rough circle of ten stones to the south and to the north of that , a horseshoe /open rectangular grouping open to the north , consisting of 16 stones .The biggest stone is aligned roughly east to west is between the two most obvious groupings and is cup marked .
The area was named in 1851 , after Louise ,wife of the King of Denmark .

This dolmen has similar features to some others in the area i.e. themodernantiquarian.com/site/17864/dolmen_feuilles.html , themodernantiquarian.com/site/17863/dolmen_lamalou.html and themodernantiquarian.com/site/17865/dolmen_du_capucin.html
The common features are paved floor ,an ante chamber usually smaller in width and length and the use of indented stones at points in the passage and a surrounding cairn .

This site deserves it’s own page but as there is no appropriate site type (Cinerary Urn (findspot )) in the site type list list it will have to be included with the nearest available site .

It’s approx 500 m east of the Glennan marked rocks .

Discovered by a bird watcher ,after publication of the RCAHMS Kilmartin guide .

“NM 8622 0097 An evaluation was undertaken of the findspot of a cremation deposit in an urn within a boulder shelter near to Kilmartin Glen.

Excavation established that the urn was cordoned and had been inverted in an irregular cut into the scree slope below the boulder shelter. The urn is decorated with horizontal lines of impressed decoration comprising twisted cord and bone. Only the upper 0.15m of the vessel survives; its poor condition necessitated the contents being excavated in situ and the vessel was lifted in pieces. All spoil was sieved, resulting in the recovery of further burnt bone, fragments of pot and a single retouched flint flake.

It was impossible to establish the nature of potential further archaeological deposits under the area of the boulder shelter because of constraints of space and issues of safety.

See archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-310-1/dissemination/pdf/sair8.pdf
For more detail .

There are 10 dolmens in the hills surrounding Espolla . None are oriented towards any solstice event and 8 are oriented towards a part of the horizon where the sun will never be seen to rise or set . This is one of the eight .

This dolmen and themodernantiquarian.com/site/18146/dolmen_roquetraoucade.html are on the same hillside , less than 400m apart , much the same height and have very similar views . The orientation of each differs by 100 degrees .

Discovered in 1881 .
A deposit of flint arrowheads was found in a  small pit on the left hand side of the corridor . Other finds were remnants of a bronze awl and some pottery .
Fwiw declination of chamber is -29.8 , therefore close to major standstill .

Crap pic , but it does show the horizon before the trees blotted it out . Worth comparing with Thelonius’ pic to see the changes 10 yrs approx can make .
This a one of the rare cases of a possible henge entrance orientation towards the winter solstice sun rise .

Discovered in 1947 . Only finds were small amount of ceramics .
90 metres from
themodernantiquarian.com/site/18047 /dolmen_de_vinyes_mortes_1.html
, horizon very similar , orientation of chambers differ by 60 degrees .

Discovered in the early 1970’s. A Flint Knife and small amount of ceramics were found when excavated . Orientation of chamber and passage is 170 degrees and therefore not facing any solar or lunar set or rise .

Discovered in 1986 by Josep Tarrus and Miquel Cura . Finds were 170 pottery fragments ,some of which were decorated , a flint blade and fragment of granite millstone . At 278 degrees this is the most westerly oriented dolmen in the region

The site was cleared of gorse and shrubbery in 1986 and excavated and restored in 2005 -6 . Worth having a look at it on Google Earth to get a better idea of the aerial view . Even better , use the timeline to see what it looked like in 2004 .
Unlike all the dolmens in area ,most of which are oriented in the other direction i.e. easterly , the axis of the monument and entrance is close enough to be considered as oriented on the mid winter solstice sunset . It doesn’t “work” in the other direction i.e. to the mid summer solstice due to the height of the hills impacting on the resulting declination . The enclosures around the main monument had later Iron Age burials with the earlier monument providing Chalcolithic Bell Beaker ceramics from beneath the menhirs .

A Catalan Gallery dolmen . Very few finds from the chamber when excavated , a piece of flint and some undecorated ceramics . In common with the other dolmens in the area (approx 20 in the Serra Rodes )the chambers tends to follow the orientation of the ridge they are on , or perpendicular to the ridge , the latter tend to be lower down and not on the ridges . Most are aligned on a part of the horizon where the sun and moon are never seen to rise or set .

The Pyrenees are the new Ben Lawers .
When I finally heard back from French archaeos about a load of unrecorded rock art I was asked to not mention the area or site .
Therefore the best I can do is list them under Pyrenees . That should be vague enough .

No digging today , it wasn’t raining , but did find a new previously unrecorded find nearby

New find today from an area I know very well.
I think this has been moved from elsewhere .Possibly dug up in the Beauly -Denny hydro work that has been going on in the area and put somewhere “safe “.

New find from yesterday .From a side glen of Glen Lyon .Considering it ‘s length and later historical period finds ,it has very little prehistoric discoveries .
A prominent rock spotted from above and some distance away proved to be worth investigating .Some of the exposed markings were difficult to capture but those that were under moss were in much better condition with pick marks still evident .

The Lamalou dolmen is one of small group of very similar monuments on the Causse de l’Hortus .They all have square or trapezoidal chambers , an adjoining ante chamber ,which tends to be smaller ,a long passage , indented slabs at entrances , dry stone walling and large cairns . The orientations are similar ,between 246 -256 degrees but the declinations are all quite different with nothing astro or landscapewise in common .Despite the presence of small but prominent hills on their horizons e.g. Pic St Loup etc , they are avoided .

At over 625 m above sea level it’s much higher than any UK stone circle and has a diameter close to that of Brodgar ,only Avebury and Stanton Drew are greater in diameter . So not a bijou upland stone circle .
What looks like portal stones ,might be considered to be due to the gaps around them , but they are the only two stones that are actually closer to the central stone , so there is a case for them being seen as portals . The rest maintain quite a regular radius .
Worth mentioning a prominent rock to the south east , it’s framed by the portal stones but not in their frame when viewed from the central stone .Of the three options centre stone to rock , centre of portals to rock and centre stone through portal stones the first is close enough to be considered a  winter solstice sunrise alignment .with the last a long way off .

I’m not much of a fan of moderns imposing names on monuments or features , it detracts and only tells of the thinking of the namer . But this one is only one of many and probably won’t be visited too often . So a small dedication to a cause . When passing in the future it will either signify relief and the slaying of dragons or a sense of waste .I’m hoping and expecting the former .
The important stuff: 21 cups on the section in the pics , a couple of metres away are another 11 but they proved almost impossible to capture .
p.s. It was found on the day of the vote .

Two new finds from yesterday taking the total; for this relatively small area to 35 .
One , the last three pics , looks like it may have a pyramidical 1-2-3 cups at it’s ” pointy bit ” ,but there is another less obvious one just below the line of three .
Plus two pics of old finds that benefited from the good light .

Whilst going for better pics , of a find from a couple of years ago , found another unrecorded marked rock less than mile to the east . Unusually it had a dumb bell i.e. two cups joined by a groove .They tend to be found singly or in groups with other cups ,but this one only had another cup on the surface . Have compared it with a more typical example on the earlier find .

A new find from a couple of weeks ago .
Had to revisit to get a decent pic .
Not particularly ornate but a fair illustration of the impact of different lighting conditions .
The pic on the far right was from the dull day of the find .

The Aude is not exactly famed for it’s rock art so on a visit to the Ventajous dolmen a few months ago ,I was more than pleasantly surprised to discover some .I I had noticed a rock among the trees that would have meant instant investigation in Blighty ,but not here , but I decided to have look anyway and couldn’t believe the result . Further searching in a sq Km of the dolmen resulted in four separate groups of marked rocks . Part of the explanation may be that the immediate area is not Limestone which covers most of the region .
Pics are not great water was in short supply and light in the trees was not ideal . The main distinguishing features were quite large cups often with connecting grooves and no rings .

The main rock ,as noted in canmore.org.uk/event/678047 was discovered in 1966 , what went unnoticed is the rock 1 metre away with 8 small cups ,not quite as obvious as the main rock but surprising it wasn’t noticed .
Btw the local pronunciation of U is often ‘oo ’ so Loondin not Lundin , Cooltoolich not Cultulich etc .

There has been a mention of a splendid example of recently discovered prehistoric rock art near Barrhead , just outside Glasgow ,so I went to have a look .
It is rock art so probabaly not quite right for this section , it is however not prehistoric .
Quite a few giveaway signs , mainly the differential colouring of the incised areas and the rock surface .If the surface had ben previously covered or exposed the incised areas and the rock surface would have had similar colouring but there is quite a difference , just as we find when rocks are recently engraved .
The markings are very fresh but with no signs of any pick markings , from the stone tools that we might expect to have been used to engrave them ,instead the incised areas are very smooth unlike the natural smoothness found after millenia of exposure . The cups are just not like real cups the edges are too well defined and the cups too shallow , this may sound like special pleading but anyone who has seen genuine cups in all their varieties will know what I mean. Finally the site is at a junction of three paths ,complete with a signpost ,thousands of people will have walked over it and past it , it’s evry unlikley to gave gone unnoticed . I have found examples of genuine rock close by paths but nothing as obvious as this ,you can even see the markings from some distance away . So yes it is rock art but probably engraved in the past couple of years .

About 500 metres northeast of the cairn
canmore.org.uk/site/295414/corriecrevie

A collection of new motifs uncovered today .

Couple of brocken spectres from the area .

Pity about the use of the R word in the site description .
canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/25634/details/urlar/

Pity about the pics too ,weather was freezing and dull . With these trees so close no sun throughout most of the winter .

Looks just like a double walled hut circle .

Despite a number of visits at different times of day/year it has always been difficult to get decent images of the worn motifs . Some from yesterday weren’t too bad .

New find from yesterday . Light was failing so pics not too clear .

Interesting new panel from today ,some typical rock art that includes what could be a “footprint ” but also a millstone which obviously could date from much later . Sorry can’t give proper grid ref yet , hence Bog etc.

Two new panels discovered a couple of days ago 100 metres west of previouly recorded panel .

Not much better , but slightly clearer than original pics from first discovery a decade ago . Not from the period but the cross incised stone is three hundred metres away .

Most photogenic , despite poor light ,of some new finds from last week .64 cups .

Slightly clearer view of find from 2009 and the most photogenic (eventually ) of three new finds from yesterday .

A previously unrecorded marked rock , pics don’t do justice to the markings . Must return in good winter light to get a clearer image .

Two previously unrecorded cup and single rings sites from the field immediately to the north of Galtway Hill .

A new find from a couple of weeks ago . It was only when I got home that I realised that it hadn’t been recorded (Surprising as it is not that far from the farm and relatively obvious ), hence the duff pics .Didn’t spend too much time getting good pics or recording .
If anyone is in the area I can give give directions & 10 figure grid ref and hopefully they can get some pics to give the markings justice .

New find from yesterday , a couple of miles into the hills from previously mentioned marked rock at NN 97877 37061 .

Three new finds from today , not particularly photogenic but it brings the total for Strath Urlar up to 102 .

Margaret Stewart associated this cairn with other upland cairns in Perthshire e.g. Strathgroy and even suggested it had a peristalth . Can’t see the resemblance myself , the others are much bigger and in the case of Strathgroy the peristalth is obvious . Nothing like it here .

A good example of the difference light makes in seeing motifs .I’d had a look at an old pic from four years ago and thought there might be a couple of rings .Almost ideal conditions yesterday ,when the mist cleared , confirmed that there were two arcs ,not rings .

I must have passed this gate house on the Liff brae hundreds of times as a kid .
Not the first time that rock art has been incorporated into a building , a  more common feature in Perthshire .

Found just over eight years ago grid ref approx , grooves 10cms long x 4mm deep .

Found about six yeras ago , didn’t take grid ref so only approximate