Rock Art Database - Scotland's Rock Art Project

ALLT A' CHOIRE CHIREINICH 1

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Canmore ID	370659	SCRAP ID	3377
Location OS Grid Ref:	NN 65098 39439	Team	Not in team
Existing Classifications	None.

Date Fieldwork Started	31/08/2020	Date Fieldwork Completed
New Panel?	Yes

Section A. CORE INFORMATION

A1. Identifiers

Panel Name	ALLT A' CHOIRE CHIREINICH		Number	1
Other names
HER/SMR		SM Number		Other

Classifications And Periods

Classification 1

Cup And Ring Marked Stone

Period 1

Neol/bronze Age

County

PERTHSHIRE

A2. Grid Reference(original find site)

OS NGR
New OS NGR	NN	65098	39439
Lat/Long	56.52756	-4.19472
Obtained By:	Google Earth

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.)	ESE

B2. Current land use & vegetation

Rough Grazing

B3. Forestry

No selection

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

Other rock art
Field System

Other: sheepfold

B5. Location Notes

The panel is situated at 425m asl on the S side of Ben Lawers, above Loch Tay, 12m SW of the westernmost tributary burn of Allt a' Choire Chireinich. It lies above, and 30m NNW of a track running along the uphill side of the head dyke, below which was a conifer plantation, recently felled. The Ben Lawers Hydro track lies 150m to the W. The ground slopes to the ESE, with Loch Tay visible between E and S, and again at the SW. To the W the summit of Beinn Ghlas is visible over the S slope of Ben Lawers, the summit of which in turn is visible to the NW, and the lower slopes to the N. To the E is the S side of Meall Odhar, and hills on the S side of the loch. The panel lies in unenclosed rough grazing. There is a broad distribution of rock art in the surrounding landscape, although the only other recorded panel within 200m is a cup marked stone 150m to the NE (Allt a' Choire Chireinich 2, ScRAP 1603, Canmore 291477). In addition to the head dyke and a shieling track running NE from it, the only other recorded feature is a sheepfold (Canmore 291513) on the head dyke, 95m to the E, at the top of march dyke between Craggantoul farm and Cragganester farms.

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)	2.2	Width	1.5
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

Quartz Veins
Nodules

Rock Type

Schist

C4. Surface Features

Fissures/cracks
Natural Hollows
Bedding Planes
Rough surface

C5. Panel Notes

The panel is an irregular shaped schist slab, 2.2m (SSW-NNE) by 1.5m, and up to 0.4m high at the SE where the side overhangs. Its upper surface slopes slightly (up to 5 degrees) to the N. To the N and W it is set back into the slope, and the turf has evidently been cut relatively recently to reveal the whole surface. It has a hard, coarse texture with quartz veins and nodules, cracks, natural voids and an uneven, rough surface. A small but prominent natural hollow towards the N contains a visible bedding plane giving the appearance of two concentric ovals. The carvings include 8 cupmarks, and 3 cups with rings/arcs. The largest cup and ring motif (650mm in diameter), in the centre of the panel, has up to 7 rings/arcs, these being most complete on the W side; the outer 2 rings appear to curve away to the SE. Its central cupmark (80mm diameter and 10mm deep) lies immediately SW of two thin parallel quartz. A short groove runs radially from near the cupmark to at least the 6th ring; another longer line runs radially from near the 3rd ring, extending in a curving line to the N edge of the panel. A third sinuous line appears to connect the 2nd ring to two cup marks to the S; a branch from this run towards another cup mark connected by another groove to the SE edge of the panel. The second cup and ring motif, near the S end of the panel has a central cup (70mm diameter and less than 10mm deep) and at least 7 concentric arcs on its W side, with a further two short arcs on the N side of the motif, giving the motif a radius of 250mm. The NE part of the motif is cut by a sinuous line running across the SW part of the panel; this is in three sections, the central of which is thinner than the outer two, and appears to run between two slightly raised ridges, possibly thin quartz veins. To its S is a curved deep groove in the edge of the panel. To the W, the third cup and ring mark comprises a central cup abutting the seventh arc of the adjacent motif, with three arcs on its W side. Two further cupmarks lie just to its W. A cupmark near the SE edge appears in the 3D model to have 3 broad concentric arcs on its W side, but these could not be seen in the field. Two further cupmarks lie on the E side of the panel, as well as a possible third, more likely a natural depression. Apart from the larger cupmarks described, the rest are 50-60mm in diameter and under 10mm deep.