Rock Art Database - Scotland's Rock Art Project

ACHNABRECK 3

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Canmore ID

39553

SCRAP ID

980

Location OS Grid Ref:

NR 85723 90643

Team

Not in team

Existing Classifications

Classification	Period
CUP AND RING MARKED ROCK	PREHISTORIC

Date Fieldwork Started	23/07/2019	Date Fieldwork Completed
New Panel?	No

Section A. CORE INFORMATION

A1. Identifiers

Panel Name	ACHNABRECK		Number	3
Other names	Achnabreck Wood
HER/SMR		SM Number	SM90006	Other	PIC148

Classifications And Periods

Classification 1

Cup And Ring Marked Rock

Period 1

Neol/bronze Age

County

ARGYLL

A2. Grid Reference(original find site)

OS NGR	NR	85720	90655
New OS NGR	NR	85723	90643
Lat/Long	56.0605	-5.44333
Obtained By:	GPS

A3. Current Location & Provenance

Located	At original location
Accession no.	Not given

Section B. CONTEXT

B1. Landscape Context

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

B2. Current land use & vegetation

Rough Grazing
Wood/Forest

Other:Managed grass

B3. Forestry

No selection

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

Other rock art

B5. Location Notes

The panel is located within a 16x7m fenced area of grassland managed by Historic Environment Scotland, on the gentle S-facing slope of a hill that runs down to Lochgilphead, with open views down Loch Gilp and the Kintyre peninsula. The fenced area sites within a clearing surrounded by bracken and mixed deciduous and mature spruce woodland. A footpath runs in front of the panel, leading from the large panels of Anchabrek 1 and 2, roughly 120m to the WNW, and then turns uphill to the E of Achnabrek 3. There is a wooden viewing platform and interpretation panel immediately outside the fenced area, on its S side. The carved panels of Achnabrek 5 and 6 lie downslope about 50 and 100m respectively.

Previous Notes

NR89SE 20 85720 90655 See also: NR89SE 2 Centred NR 85570 90690 Cup- and ring-marked rocks NR89SE 13 NR 85537 90197 Standing Stone NR89SE 19 NR 85664 90564 Cup- and ring-marked rock NR89SE 27 NR 857 906 Cup-marked rock NR89SE 28 NR 860 903 Cup- and ring-marked rock NR89SE 29 NR 862 904 Cup-marked rock NR89SE 30 NR 862 903 Cup- and ring-marked rock NR89SE 31 NR 862 903 Cup- and ring-marked rock NR89SE 32 NR 864 903 Cup- and ring-marked rock NR89SE 56 NR 85566 90814 Cup- and ring-marked rock [NR 857 906] This rock outcrop is situated in a forestry plantation 150m E of NR89SE 2. The decoration includes at least 15 multi-ringed cupmarks (with up to 6 rings) many of which have extended gutters trailing from their cups, and a large number of plain cupmarks. RCAHMS 1988, visited May 1984.

Section C. PANEL

C1. Panel Type

In the landscape

Outcrop

C2. Panel Dimensions, Slope & Orientation

Dimensions of panel (m to one decimal place)

Length (longer axis)	5.3	Width	2.9
Height (max)	0	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

Medium

Visible Anomalies

Not Visible

Rock Type

Schist

C4. Surface Features

Fissures/cracks
Natural Hollows

Other: Glacial striations

C5. Panel Notes

The panel is a large area of exposed schist bedrock, measuring about 5.3x2.9m, flush with the ground. It has a slightly undulating profile sloping generally to the S, following the shape of the terrain. The surface is naturally textured by pitting and features numerous fissures running widthways and occasionally diagonally across the panel. There are also several glacial striations running NW-SE along the panel. There are multiple cup and ring motifs, including one large cup with 5 rings and a long radial in the centre of the panels, as well as at least 11 cups with 2 or 3 rings, pennanulars or partial rings, of which 7 have radials, and at least 22 cups with single rings or partial rings, of which 17 have radials. There are, in addition, 27 cups, 8 cups with radials, and a network of elongated grooves, many of which interconnect with the radials or with other motifs. The main area of carving is in the central and NE sections of the surface, and many of the radials and grooves run in a SW direction down the panel into the surrounding turf or into natural fissures. Some of the motifs are quite irregular, as if created by several different authors, possibly over a protracted time-span.