Rock Art Database - Scotland's Rock Art Project

TOWNHEAD 20

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Canmore ID	368681	SCRAP ID	3349
Location OS Grid Ref:	NX 69978 47140	Team	Not in team
Existing Classifications	None.

Date Fieldwork Started	21/06/2018	Date Fieldwork Completed
New Panel?	Yes

Section A. CORE INFORMATION

A1. Identifiers

Panel Name	TOWNHEAD		Number	20
Other names	This is recorded in Canmore twice, as van Hoek 4C, and as Naddir 1h
HER/SMR		SM Number		Other

Classifications And Periods

Classification 1

Cup And Ring Marked Rock

Period 1

Neol/bronze Age

County

KIRKUDBRIGHTSHIRE

A2. Grid Reference(original find site)

OS NGR
New OS NGR	NX	69978	47140
Lat/Long	54.80222	-4.02426
Obtained By:	GPS

A3. Current Location & Provenance

Located	At original location
Accession no.	Not given

Section B. CONTEXT

B1. Landscape Context

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

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 situated near the eastern end of a field of improved pasture, close to the bottom of the gradual SE slope of the field, on the S side of a small rocky knoll, about 20m W of a burn that runs along the field edge. There are at least 20 other carved panels in the same field (Townhead 1-26), and several carved surfaces cluster on the same rocky knoll as Townhead 20. Townhead 19 and 20 are the closest, with Townhead 19 lying only about 2m to the ESE under turf, and Townhead 20 lying 4-5m to the S. The cluster of carved rocks at Milton lies only a few hundred metres to the SE. There are two records for Townhead 20 in Canmore. It was originally recorded by Morris/van Hoek as Townhead 4C (Canmore 77613, ScRAP 1724) and as Townhead 1h by Naddir et al (Canmore 77804, ScRAP 1182). It is also grouped with Townhead 19, 20 and 21 (previously Townhead 4A, B and D, and Townhead 1a-g and 1e) in both the existing records. In order to simplify this confusion, a new Canmore record has been created for Townhead 20. Townhead 19 is recorded under Canmore 77804, and Townhead 18 is recorded under Canmore 77613.

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)	2	Width	1.1
Height (max)		Height (min)

Approximate slope of carved surface

degrees

Orientation (Aspect e.g. NW)

Rock Surface

Carved Surface

C3. Rock Surface

Surface Compactness

Hard

Grain Size

Fine

Visible Anomalies

Not Visible

Rock Type

Greywacke

C4. Surface Features

Fissures/cracks
Natural Hollows
Smooth Surface

C5. Panel Notes

This is a large area of greywacke bedrock measuring about 2.0x1.1m and flush with the ground. The surface is smooth, slopes very gently to the NW, and has several fissures and natural hollows, including a large, deep tear-drop shaped hollow on its W side. Towards the NE end of the panel is a rosette motif comprising a large ring enclosing 2 incomplete rings of small cups arranged around the inner circumference of the ring. A possible radial leads from the ring to a faint ring motif. A second radial leads from the rosette to a circular area of pecking. To one side of this is a wavy groove partly enclosing a curved alignment of cups. At the opposite end of the panel is a circle of well-defined cups, a dumbbell, an incomplete ring with small cups at each terminus, and cup with a long, wavy groove leading to the large natural hollow. There are also at least 7 cups, 2 or 3 shorter grooves and numerous micro-cups or random peck marks