Rock Art Database - Scotland's Rock Art Project

Black Hill 1

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Canmore ID	12896	SCRAP ID	293
Location OS Grid Ref:	NH 57363 63702	Team	Not in team
Existing Classifications	None.

Date Fieldwork Started	13/11/2018	Date Fieldwork Completed
New Panel?	No

Section A. CORE INFORMATION

A1. Identifiers

Panel Name	Black Hill		Number	1
Other names	Black Hill A
HER/SMR	MHG8958	SM Number		Other

Classifications And Periods

Classification 1

Cup And Ring Marked Stone

Period 1

Neol/bronze Age

County

ROSS AND CROMARTY

A2. Grid Reference(original find site)

OS NGR	NH	57380	63720
New OS NGR	NH	57363	63702
Lat/Long	57.6406	-4.3911
Obtained By:	Mobile Phone

A3. Current Location & Provenance

Located	At original location
Accession no.	Not given

Section B. CONTEXT

B1. Landscape Context

Weather	Sunny Intervals
Position in landscape	Hillside
Topography(terrain within about 500m of panel.)	Sloping
Aspect of slope (if on sloping terrain e.g. S, SE etc.)	SE

B2. Current land use & vegetation

Improved Pasture

B3. Forestry

No selection

B4. Archaeological Features within 200m / or visible from the panel

Other rock art

B5. Location Notes

The panel is on a steep E facing slope, overlooking the Cromarty Firth to the Black Isle, with the open sea in the distance between the Sutors to the NE. A power line with pylons crosses about 150m SE, lower down the slope. Black Hill 2 is about 60m to the N, on the same (200m) contour. To the NW is a vehicle track to a single wind turbine. The panel can accessed from that track via a gate in the fence. This panel and Black Hill 2 are both accurately placed on the OS 1:25k map.

Previous Notes

NH56SE 10 5737 6370 to 5738 6376. On NE slopes of Black Hill, at 650ft OD., there are 2 cup-marked stones at NH 5737 6370 (A) and NH 57386376 (B). 'A' is a large flat stone, 1.7m x 1m, flush with the ground, with about 40 cup-marks, 1 cup-and-ring mark and 2 cup-marks joined by a groove. This is clearly stone referred to in (PSAS 1912). <1> 'B' is an irregular-shaped boulder, 1.5m long, 0.8m wide and 0.5m high, on which about 15 cup-marks are visible. This may be stone described by Macrae (N Macrae 1923). <2> Surveyed at 1/2500. Visited by OS (N K B) 30 June 1965. Cup-marked Rock (NR) (Twice) OS 1:10,000map, (1971) Stone 'A' has approximately 37 plain cup-marks, 1 cup and ring, one 'dumbell', and concentrated at its N end 10 'scoops' appearing as enlarged cups, sub circular in plan. 2 faint grooves form a cross shape on stone surface. The stones are otherwise as described above. Visited by OS (J B) 18 November 1976. Photographs of the cup marked stone were submitted to the HER in 2010 by D Scott. <3> Photographs of the main cup marked stone were submitted to the HER in January 2011 by John Wombell. <4> RCAHMS, 1979, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The archaeological sites and monuments of Easter Ross, Ross and Cromarty District, Highland Region, 17-18, Nos. 125, 126 (Text/Report). SHG2670. <1> PSAS, 1912, 'Donations to and purchases for the Museum and Library, with exhibits', Proc Soc Antiq Scot Vol. 46 1911-12, p.10-14, 90-3, 177-82, 242-6, 327-43, 372-8, 93 (Text/Publication/Article). SHG627. <2> MacRae, N, 1923, The romance of a royal burgh: Dingwall's story of a thousand years, 339 (Text/Publication/Volume). SHG2489. <3> Scott, D, 2010-11, Photographs and information from Douglas Scott (Image/Photograph(s)). SHG25031. <4> Wombell, J, 2011, Photographs of various HER sites (Image/Photograph(s)). SHG25170.

Section C. PANEL

C1. Panel Type

In the landscape

Boulder/Slab

C2. Panel Dimensions, Slope & Orientation

Dimensions of panel (m to one decimal place)

Length (longer axis)	1.7	Width	1.1
Height (max)	0.4	Height (min)	0

Approximate slope of carved surface

degrees

Orientation (Aspect e.g. NW)

Rock Surface

Carved Surface

C3. Rock Surface

Surface Compactness

Hard

Grain Size

Coarse

Visible Anomalies

Not Visible

Rock Type

Schist

C4. Surface Features

Smooth Surface

C5. Panel Notes

This is a schist boulder measuring 1.7 x 1.05m and 0.4 m high, sloping to the SE. It has 40 separate cups of varying sizes, 2 dumbbells, and 1 well-defined cup with single ring. It has a long groove down the centre and another across the top end. It also has 5 rounded but not circular shapes.