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Archaeologist Stumbles on Extremely Rare Prehistoric Animal Carvings, Changes Existing View on Ancient Rock Art

The unexpected find occurred when archaeology enthusiast Hamish Fenton made an impromptu decision to explore the burial chamber at dusk.
PUBLISHED JAN 14, 2025
Prehistoric Drawings on Rock Surface (Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Amanda Martin)
Prehistoric Drawings on Rock Surface (Representative Cover Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Amanda Martin)

A groundbreaking announcement by Historic Environment Scotland in 2021 revealed that prehistoric animal carvings, estimated to be 4,000 to 5,000 years old, have dramatically rewritten the rules on ancient British rock art. The carvings, which were found within Dunchraigaig Cairn in Kilmartin Glen, Argyll, are Scotland's first-known prehistoric animal depictions and feature intricately detailed images of red deer, according to Sky News.



 

The unexpected find occurred when archaeology enthusiast, Hamish Fenton, made an impromptu decision to explore the burial chamber at dusk. "As I shone the torch around, I noticed a pattern on the underside of the roof slab which didn't appear to be natural markings in the rock," Fenton recalled. "I could see that I was looking at a deer stag upside down, and as I continued looking around, more animals appeared on the rock." The carvings depict two male red deer in their prime with fully developed antlers and display a degree of anatomical detail not seen previously in art from this period. Even one of the deer shows a distinct short tail, while three more four-legged creatures, presumably juvenile deer, have also been incised on the rock surface.



 

Comparing this to what Dr. Tertia Barnett, Principal Investigator for Scotland's Rock Art Project at HES, stated, "This extremely rare discovery completely changes the assumption that prehistoric rock art in Britain was mainly geometric and non-figurative," according to BBC. The find carries special significance because, until this discovery, experts believed such animal carvings didn't exist in Scotland, though similar artwork had been documented in other parts of Europe.



 

The setting is what gives its discovery more historical significance. It had been a great reason why Kilmartin Glen is already well-known for being endowed with a wide collection of sites belonging to the Neolithic and Bronze Ages—together with the two carvings already discovered in September 2019—already make this spot the first site in Britain that boasts both types of these animal carvings and also contains the traditional cup-and-ring markings. This kind of combination could raise new questions over what exactly is taken as the association between various forms of artistic expressions with cultural meanings that would have been attributed to the ancients.

Dr. Sharon Webb, MBE, Museum Curator, highlighted the discovery's broader implications: "The archaeology of Kilmartin Glen is extraordinary, and every new discovery adds to its international importance. Future research will help us to understand how this amazing and unique art fits into the story of the Glen."

Wall carvings  (Representative Cover Image Source: Unsplash | Photo by Sumit Mangela)
Wall carvings (Representative Image Source: Unsplash | Photo by Sumit Mangela)

Such carvings having been placed inside Dunchraigaig Cairn, the big burial site with three stone chambers, indicates that these artistic works carried important cultural overtones. The deer that supplied these early Scottish groups with meat, hides, bones, and antlers from which to make their tools undoubtedly were of central importance to the life course. Researchers go further with modern structured light scanning and photogrammetry of the carvings, realizing the tantalizing prospect that many more may turn up within the British ancient landscapes.

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