Rock Art Database - Scotland's Rock Art Project

BALBIRNIE 2

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Canmore ID	29980	SCRAP ID	3338
Location OS Grid Ref:	NO 2850 0304	Team	Not in team
Existing Classifications	None.

Date Fieldwork Started	02/03/2020	Date Fieldwork Completed
New Panel?	Yes

Section A. CORE INFORMATION

A1. Identifiers

Panel Name	BALBIRNIE		Number	2
Other names
HER/SMR		SM Number		Other

Classifications And Periods

Classification 1	Cup And Ring Marked Stone	Period 1	Neol/bronze Age
Classification 2	Cist	Period 2	Bronze Age

County

FIFE

A2. Grid Reference(original find site)

OS NGR
New OS NGR	NO	2850	0304
Lat/Long	56.21454	-3.1544
Obtained By:	Map

A3. Current Location & Provenance

Located	Moved from original location In museum From excavation
Museum/Collection	National Museums of Scotland Collection Centre
Accession no.	X.EP 204

Section B. CONTEXT

B1. Landscape Context

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

B2. Current land use & vegetation

No selection

B3. Forestry

No selection

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

No selection

B5. Location Notes

No notes added

Section C. PANEL

C1. Panel Type

In a structure

Burial monument

C2. Panel Dimensions, Slope & Orientation

Dimensions of panel (m to one decimal place)

Length (longer axis)	0.8	Width	0.5
Height (max)	0.2	Height (min)	0.2

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

Sandstone

C4. Surface Features

Bedding Planes
Rough surface

C5. Panel Notes

This is a rhomboid shaped slab measuring about 0.8 x 0.5m and 0.2m thick. The edges are broken on at least two sides, and there is some surface damage. The upper surface is rough with several pronounced bedding planes. There are 4 cups, one of which is more than 6cm diameter, 1 large cup (8cm diameter, 4cm deep) with a pennanular and short radial, 1 large cup with a pennanular, 1 cup with an arc, and 2 cups with a narrow radial. Tool markings are visible in most of the motifs and there are some roughly pecked linear features. The panel formed the side slab of a burial cist within a group of cists at Balbirnie excavated in 1970 (Canmore ID 29980). A cup marked stone (Balbirnie 1) with two carved surfaces was recovered from another cist during the same excavation, and is also in the National Museum of Scotland Collection Centre.