Spectacular New Rock Art Discovery
A significant new rock art panel has been reported to the West of Scotland Archaeology Service by Stephen Reid of Giffnock and his cousin, Kerry Geddes, who lives in Shetland. Kerry identified the stone, which bears numerous cup and ring markings, when running in the Fereneze Hills, between Barrhead and Paisley. She said that she had run past the markings a few times over the past few years. However, when Stephen checked the online HER, he discovered that these markings did not appear to have been recorded previously, despite lying close to a footpath. He therefore forwarded a picture of the site to WoSAS, along with details of its position. We were able to visit the site, and confirmed the presence of an impressive group of cup-and-ring markings. At least 16 ring-markings are evident, some with a single ring and others with two, along with multiple simple cups. The size of the grouping is reminiscent of outcrops found in areas such as Northumberland and Kilmartin, in Argyll.
There is some variation in the colour of the bedrock, suggesting that sections of it may have been covered with vegetation until fairly recently - certainly, the lower portion of the stone appears to be less heavily weathered than the upper. It is possible that the lower portion of the stone may have been exposed relatively recently, perhaps due to a combination of increased foot traffic and bad weather dislodging the shallow topsoil and vegetation that covered it previously - certainly, the markings higher up the rock face are less distinct, suggesting that they have been exposed to greater levels of erosion.
