Prehistoric
Rock Art of the West Riding; cup-and-ring marked rocks of the valley
of the Aire, Wharfe, Washburn and Nidd, by K.J.S. BOUGHEY & E.A.
VICKERMAN
West Yorkshire Archaeology Service,
2003; xii + 188 pages; 49 figures; 193 b&w plates. ISBN 1 870453
32 8. (£14 + £4.50 p&p, direct from WYAS, PO Box 30,
Nepshaw Lane South, Morley, Leeds, LS27 0UG. Cheques payable to Wakefield
Metropolitan District Council)
This splendidly produced hardback volume replaces
and updates the Ilkley Archaeology Group’s ‘The Carved Rocks
on Rombalds Moor’ (1986). I must state at the outset that I review
this volume with a general interest in rock art, but without a detailed
knowledge of the West Yorkshire sites, having only inspected a small
sample of the sites on a couple of brief visits several years ago. I
am, therefore, in no position to judge the accuracy of general or specific
statements about the local archaeology, although I am happy to be able
to report that the volume appears to be well researched and presented
(not something that can be said about every title ever published on
the subject of rock art).
Rather unusually, the volume begins with a section
entitled ‘Discussion’, something one might more normally
expect to find at the end of a book. The reason for this is clear as
the subsequent sections consist only of a gazetteer and illustrations.
I will deal first with the gazetteer and illustrations, before returning
to the Discussion about which the bulk of this review is concerned.
The Gazetteer
The gazetteer fills 131 pages, representing a little over two thirds
of the book. It consists of tables, scale drawings and black and white
photographs. The tables detail 647 different rock art sites, and include
NGRs, brief descriptions and bibliographic references. The drawings
are usefully shown at a uniform scale, all with north arrows, and many
are also drawn in profile. Drawing cup-and-ring marks is not a straightforward
exercise. Experts can argue indefinitely over whether a particular indentation
in a rock surface is natural or artificial (or perhaps an artificially
enhanced natural feature), and can change their minds according to the
prevailing weather conditions on a given day! I know of no really accurate
way of depicting complex panels of rock art as two-dimensional images,
especially in cases where varying levels of erosion suggest different
phases of decoration on a single panel. That said, the drawings represent
a fine archive of the local decorated rocks, especially when considered
alongside the photographs provided. These photographs are generally
excellent, taken under good light conditions, and the printing is of
very high quality. The 193 photographs included in the book are apparently
only a small selection of those in the project archive: it would be
useful if the entire archive could one day be made available on a website.
Commendably, the authors have included photographs which attempt to
show some of the decorated rocks in their landscape settings, as well
as close-ups of the decorated surfaces. This need to consider rock art
in context is something to which I shall return below. In summary, the
gazetteer appears well researched and is set out in a thoroughly user-friendly
style for which the authors and designers are to be congratulated.
The Discussion
This occupies 47 pages, and is very wide-ranging. It includes general
accounts of the cup-and-ring phenomenon and an outline history of rock
art research in Britain over the past 150 years. Its main strength,
as one might expect from the volume’s title, is its description
and analysis of the West Riding rock art, specifically that of the Aire,
Wharfe, Washburn and Nidd valleys. The descriptions are presented one
moor at a time, and include the well-known rock art concentrations on
Rombalds Moor (including Ilkley Moor) and Baildon Moor, along with many
less well-known sites. Individually, for some unknown reason, few of
these sites match the grandeur of many Northumberland or Argyll sites,
but collectively they display much variety and certainly represent a
recognisable regional style. The designs are invariably based on cup-marks,
occasionally with rings, but include a variety of grooves which lend
most sites a sense of individuality not always present in, for example,
Northumberland, where panels might be more spectacular but design elements
are perhaps rather more predictable. (Perhaps ‘cup-and-groove’
would be a better term than ‘cup-and-ring’ to describe the
art of this region, given the relative lack of rings and the preponderance
of designs based on cups and wavy grooves.) In some cases, especially
those where only cup-marks are present, I sometimes wonder whether it
was the act of making the cup-mark that was more important
than the motifs left behind, and that perhaps they were made over an
extended time period. In other cases, as Boughy and Vickerman explain,
‘there appears to be a unity suggesting a single design executed,
if not at one time, then as one idea and probably by a single artist.’
The Discussion includes a section entitled ‘statistical
analysis’. I have hated statistics ever since being forced to
take it for A-level, but accept that the detailed statistical analysis
of the nature of the decorated panels, and of their distribution within
the landscape, are very important aspects of modern research. That said,
I do wonder whether such analysis has really taught us much over and
above the general observations made by various mid-nineteenth century
antiquarians. And I doubt whether our Neolithic ancestors would have
thought much of such ‘scientific’ research – sometimes
just a feeling for a place is enough to make it special, without having
to prove its ‘specialness’ using mathematics.
The authors also consider the recording and conservation
of rock art. Accurate recording is, of course, essential, as all carvings
left open to the elements will continue to erode. (A recent moorland
fire in North Yorkshire has caused serious damage to several decorated
panels, all of which had fortunately been recorded by local rock art
experts. Similar damage could occur anywhere: should it occur in the
area covered by this book then at least we will have good records to
fall back on). Many decorated outcrops in this area have been lost or
damaged through various causes: hopefully the availability of this book
and its associated archive will help to minimise such events in future.
I agree wholeheartedly with the authors’ observations regarding
the dangers of alienating farmers and landowners through excessive red-tape.
It is, in my experience, far more profitable to allocate resources to
the education of such individuals than to worry about the need to legally
protect every rock art site and other ancient monument through scheduling
or other means.
The Discussion closes with a consideration of the
‘meaning’ of the carvings, which is naturally what many
people buying and reading the book will most want to learn about. This
section covers familiar ground to those involved in rock art studies,
offering a variety of possibilities but no firm opinions. The ‘meaning’
behind the cup-and-ring marks is something that has intrigued me for
a couple of decades, and I do not necessarily subscribe to the ‘we
will never know for sure, so there is little point in wasting time thinking
about it’ attitude which most professional archaeologists seem
to have adopted. As I have tried to show in my own work (eg Frodsham
1996; in press) there is enormous scope for informed speculation about
the thinking behind the motifs within frameworks provided by ethnographic
studies. The decorated rocks occur within landscapes that were occupied
by people, and there are many different approaches to the study of these
people in addition to speculation about their rock art. Just a few years
ago, no professional archaeologists were very interested in British
rock art. Today the subject has become very trendy in its own right.
But it should not be a subject in its own right as the rock
art never existed in isolation. Walking round a moor studying rock art
alone has been described to me as like walking round a great cathedral
studying nothing but floor-tiles, or round an art gallery studying paint
rather than paintings! There is a sensible balance to be struck here.
We must give due weight to the study of rock art, but must also remember
that rock art sites often have complex contexts which are open to many
different techniques of investigation. Serious progress in understanding
of cup-and-ring marks should not be sought through ‘rock art studies’,
but through integrated, multi-faceted studies of the Neolithic world.
Books like ‘Prehistoric Rock Art of the West Riding’ have
a crucial role to play in informing such integrated studies.
In summary
This volume summarises countless hours of dedicated and meticulous fieldwork
by its authors and others over many years. Those with a professional
interest in British rock art must obtain it as an essential addition
to their library. Anyone with a just a passing interest in the subject
would also do well to obtain a copy, if only to spend some time studying
the splendid photographs. Having recommended it, almost without reservation,
I will end with a plea. Please will those with involved with the rock
art of West Yorkshire now turn from discovery and classification to
serious archaeological study of the decorated panels. I know that there
is always a fear of committing speculative opinions to paper, but we
really have now reached the stage when local experts are going to have
to start thinking about how to progress the study of rock art. There
is much to do, ranging from the study of anthropological literature
of potential value, to the excavation of sites to try and develop local
and regional chronologies and relate these to the wider Neolithic world.
I really do not wish to read any more discussions of rock art which
end with observations about ‘fascinating questions which must
for now remain unanswered’. The authors of this volume are no
less guilty than many others – but come on, you’re the experts
- at least have the courage to tell us what you think!
Paul Frodsham
Northumberland National Park Authority
References
Frodsham, P. 1996. Spirals in Time: Morwick Mill and the spiral motif
in the British Neolithic, Frodsham, P. (ed.), Neolithic Studies
in No-Man’s Land: Papers on the Neolithic of Northern England
from the Trent to the Tweed. (= Northern Archaeology 13/14). Newcastle
upon Tyne: Northumberland Archaeological Group.
Frodsham, P. (in press). The phallic explanation:
A late nineteenth century solution to the cup-and-ring conundrum, in
Burgess, C. & Topping, P. (eds), Beyond Stonehenge. Essays on
Archaeology and the Bronze Age in Honour of Colin Burgess. Oxford:
Oxbow.
Review Submitted: June 2004
The views expressed in this review are not
necessarily those of the Society or the Reviews Editor.
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