In mid-May 2020 during lockdown I was out on my bike with my wife searching for new trails close to home. On stopping to check the map I noticed a large moss-covered boulder that had unusual depressions on it. I thought it may have been cup marked, not because I had any expertise, but because I had seen cup marked rocks at Cairnbaan in Kilmartin many years ago. I reported the find to the East Lothian County Heritage Officer who in turn informed Dr Tertia Barnett from ScRAP of the suspected rock art.
Discovering the Whitelaw Hill panel in May 2020 during lockdown, after it was exposed by felling of the adjacent woodland
When Tertia was able to visit the Whitelaw Hill site some weeks later, I met her there and could tell that it was an important find as she seemed to be pretty elated! I learned that there are actually very few cup-marked rocks in East Lothian so this was indeed a rare find. The local tractor driver later told me that he had ploughed up the stone some 20 years previously but had not noticed the carvings and it had lain undisturbed at the side of a footpath since. I reported the find as Treasure Trove and hope the stone will end up in a museum for everyone’s enjoyment.
Meeting Tertia for the first time at Whitelaw Hill when she was recording the panel. Removing the debris revealed the complex cup and ring motifs and unusually well-preserved tool marks
After seeing how the stone was recorded by Tertia I realised that recording rock art hit many of my interests; map reading, GPS, computing, photography, research and being outdoors. I joined Scotland’s Rock Art Project and that set me off recording rock art and updating the ScRAP database. I visited several sites where rock art had previously been recorded and found nothing there, or just rocks with natural features. This did not deter me as I was happy to tidy up the database and to me a ‘hit’ was as good as a ‘miss’ if the records became more accurate. In addition to visiting sites on the database it seems like I now stop at every farmer’s rock pile and look at every stone in every dyke searching for undiscovered rock art. I have also found that many of the previously recorded rock art sites are not actually rock art at all but natural features in the rock that look like cup marks. It is surprising how many rocks in the Lammermuir Hills appear to be cup marked, and also how many fossilised ferns I have found in dykes!
Recording a cup and ring marked rock at King's Park, Stirling
I was incredibly lucky to find another cup marked stone close to Soutra about two months after my first find. It was a small stone lying partially covered at the side of a field with a very clear cup and ring with peck marks. It is incredible to think that someone had carved it over 4000-5000 years ago. So that was another Treasure Trove report and two cup-marked stones added to the East Lothian inventory. That doesn’t seem like much but there are less than ten recorded in the county. I’m sure there are more to be found so I will keep looking!
My second discovery! A small cup and ring marked stone at Soutra Hill, East Lothian
I have found that many of the rocks that I go to visit are no longer there. They have been lost, and one I searched for is now probably underneath a tennis court as back fill! Others are possibly lost to windfarm development. This loss of previously recorded stones concerns me as we really need to keep the few stones we have for future generations.
The Scotland’s Rock Art Project has certainly kept my wife and I busy over the last few months; it has got us out to new places, learning new things, and I am pleased that what we are doing is adding to our national heritage. I have only been involved for a very short period of time and have lots to learn, but it has been a wonderful way to think about the people and the landscape that were here 4000-5000 years or so ago.
