Rock Art Database

ALLT A' CHOIRE CHIREINICH 3

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Canmore ID 238575 SCRAP ID 254
Location OS Grid Ref: NN 65307 39560 Team Not in team
Existing Classifications
Classification Period
CUP AND RING MARKED STONE PREHISTORIC
Date Fieldwork Started 05/09/2020 Date Fieldwork Completed
New Panel? No  

Section A. CORE INFORMATION

A1. Identifiers

Panel Name ALLT A' CHOIRE CHIREINICH Number 3
Other names Cragganester
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 NN 65307 39560
New OS NGR
Lat/Long 56.5287 -4.19139
Obtained By:

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.) 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
  • Enclosure
Other: track, sheiling huts, peat stands

B5. Location Notes

The panel is situated at 430m asl in unenclosed rough grazing on the S side of Ben Lawers above Loch Tay, 20m NE of a tributary burn of Allt a' Choire Chireinich. It is perched on the edge of the steep burn gully which slopes to the SW, although the general slopes of the ground it to the S. There is a large boulder 4m S of the panel. The panel lies 70m N of the head dyke (and the track on its S side), and 15m S of a shieling track running NE up from the head dyke. Loch Tay is 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. To the E is the S side of Meall Odhar, and hills on the S side of the loch. There is a broad distribution of rock art in the surrounding landscape, although the only recorded example within 200m is a cup marked stone 95m to the SW (Allt a' Choire Chireinich 2, ScRAP 1603, Canmore 291477). Other recorded features include enclosures and sheiling huts 40m SSE (Canmore 256019), peat stands 140m to the SE (Canmore 291489), and a sheepfold on the head dyke, 170m to the SW, at the top of march dyke between Craggantoul farm and Cragganester farms (Canmore 291513).

Previous Notes

NN63NE 104 65307 39560 Situated in open moorland above the E bank of the Allt a' Choire Chireinich, and about 70m N of the Cragganester head dyke, there is a flat-topped boulder, measuring 2.4m by 2.1m and 1.1m in height, which bears at least sixteen plain cups and thirty-four cup-and-ring markings. The cups measure up to 70mm in diameter and 10mm in depth. Twenty-four cups are encircled by a single ring, each measuring up to 160mm in diameter; six cups have two rings, measuring up to 200mm in diameter; three have four rings, measuring up to 380mm in diameter; and one cup has five rings, the largest measuring 440mm in diameter. Seven of the figures, including all three of those with three rings, also have a gutter running out from the central cup. (BL00 206) Visited by RCAHMS (AGCH, SDB) 2 May 2000

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) 2.7 Width 2.6
Height (max) 1.2 Height (min) 0.1
Approximate slope of carved surface
5 degrees degrees
Orientation (Aspect e.g. NW)
Rock Surface SSE Carved Surface SSE Carved Surface

C3. Rock Surface

Surface Compactness Hard Grain Size Coarse Visible Anomalies Nodules
Rock Type Schist

C4. Surface Features

  • Natural Hollows
  • Rough surface

C5. Panel Notes

This is a flat-topped and smoothed Schist boulder, 2.7m (NW-SE) by 1.6m, and up to 1.2m high on its overhanging S side. Its upper surface, which is slightly domed with rounded edges, slopes generally between 0 and 10 degrees (average 5 degrees) to the SSE. To the N, where it is set back into the slope, it is no more than 0.2m high. It has a hard, coarse texture and a rough surface. The carvings include at least 52 cupmarks, of which 36 have no discernible rings, and a number of others where complete or partial rings were only revealed in the 3D modelling. They are seemingly randomly distributed across the panel's upper surface. Six cup and ring marks have single rings, 6 have 2 rings each, 1 has 3 rings and the largest, in the central eastern part of the panel, has 5 rings. The latter has a radial teardrop-shaped mark E of its central cupmark (but not connected to it) with a further radial groove to its E. A two-ring cup and ring mark to its N also has a radial line (slightly sinuous) running E from its cupmark. This differs significantly from the previous record of 16 plain cupmarks and 34 cup and ring marks, and suggests that many of the rings have been lost in recent years.

C6. Probability

The probability that there is any rock art on the panel is Definite

Comments

No comments added

C7. MOTIFS

Cupmark
cupmark_1
38
Cup and Rings
cup_and_ring_1 cup_and_ring_3 cup_and_ring_2 cup_and_ring_6
4 2 5 2
Other Ring
other_ring_2
1

Visible Tool Marks? No

Visible Peck Marks? No

Section D. ACCESS, AWARENESS & RISK

D1. Access

  • Right to Roam access.
  • Access is managed by a national organisation.

D2. Awareness

  • Panel was known before the project.
  • This panel is known to others in the local community.
There are stories or folk traditions associated with this panel No

D3. Risk

Natural
  • No selection
Animal
  • There are sheep near the rock.
Human
  • No selection
Comments and other potential threats

An NTS Ranger said that the decoration on this panel is noticeably less clear than a few year ago, and he has often seen sheep standing on this rock. Certainly many of the cup and ring marks previously reported are now only apparent as plain cup marks.