Weird rock carvings puzzle archaeologists

NewScientist.com news service ^ | 17:34 09 October 03 | Shaoni Bhattacharya

[vannrox]

Weird rock carvings puzzle archaeologists

17:34 09 October 03

NewScientist.com news service

Mysterious rock carvings engraved into strange shapes are baffling UK archaeologists. One resembles a heart, another a human footprint.

Aron Mazel and Stan Beckensall, who stumbled across the unusual carvings close to England's border with Scotland, believe they are the first such designs to have been discovered in the UK.

"We have absolutely no idea what they are," says Mazel, an archaeologist at the University of Newcastle. "They are nothing like anything we, or anybody else we have talked to, have seen before." He believes the carvings were not created recently - in the last 15 to 20 years - and could be as ancient as 3000 years old.

This lichen-covered rock carving resembles a heart (Image: Aron Mazel)

The researchers were alerted to the etchings on an isolated boulder by a farm worker, while they were investigating the well-known "cup and ring" rock art in Northumberland. These prehistoric etchings have been found across the UK, and are particularly abundant in the county.

Stone pick axes

"The carvings we have found before - cup and ring - dated back to the Neolithic Bronze Age and were probably done by early farmers," Mazel told New Scientist. They were hacked into rock faces using stone pick axes.

But the new-found carvings are "very different", he says. "They are sharper on one hand, but also quite smooth." Metal tools are likely to have been required to make them.

"Also, the imagery reflected in the carvings are very different," Mazel says. "They are elliptical shapes, and something which looks like a footprint, and a heart."

Mazel and Beckensall are puzzled by their discovery and have consulted experts in the field such as English Heritage, but no one has been able to shed any light.

"We are keen to draw people's attention to them - seeing the pictures of the markings may prompt somebody to come forward with new information, perhaps relating to similar rock art samples they have viewed elsewhere," says Beckensall.

Shaoni Bhattacharya

[vannrox]

hum.....

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[js1138]

Calling Indiana Jones. Cleanup at the Temple of Doom.

[farmfriend]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs
List for articles regarding early civilizations , life of all forms, - dinosaurs - etc.

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[Consort]

When this article was posted last week, someone said the grooves were used for milling rye flour in the old days.

[ruoflaw]

Thanks for the ping! You are appreciated

[TheAngryClam]

Probably.

Out where I grew up, the indians that used to live there milled acorns in the rocks, so there'd be these almost perfectly cylindrical holes ground into the rocks.

Two problems here- I don't know the scale, but the indian millholes were rather small. Also, is there any evidence that the rock has been upended, as it looks like these grooves are vertical, and that would be a rather, well, annoying way to mill food.

[blam]

Thanks for the ping. Already posted here

[farmfriend]

Ok, wouldn't blame you if you had given up on pinging me.

[georgiabelle]

Please add me to your list.

[Consort]

My guess was dislodged river rocks.

[ET(end tyranny)]

That one picture looks like bunny rabbit ears!

[mtbopfuyn]

That's easy - some guy got his heart broken when his woman stepped out on him.

[IncPen]

That one picture looks like bunny rabbit ears!

I was thinking bunny slippers...

[farmfriend]

Consider yourself added. If you ever change your mind, let me know.

[georgiabelle]

Thanks. Love stuff like this.

[GeronL]

The same Two guys who did the thousand crop circles all over the world without leaving england did these too... /sarcasm

[Lancey Howard]

Please add me to your ping list.
Thanks. LH

[farmfriend]

Consider yourself added. Let me know if you ever change your mind.