Ancient stone carvings given global showcase
Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday, 13 March 2003 Page Views: 1549
Rock ArtStone carvings in the North-East that are thousands of years old are getting a global showcase in what is believed to be the most detailed Internet site of its kind in the world reports This Is The North east.The website will include global positioning system readings - highly accurate positions of the artwork, compiled using satellites - and digital drawings and photographs.
Northumberland is widely regarded as having the country's richest collection of rock art, with up to 500 examples still existing and written records of up to 750 panels.
International expert Stan Beckensall, who has spent more than 30 years documenting this mysterious phenomenon, has just donated his extensive archive to the Museum of Antiquities at the University of Newcastle. The records include photographs, books, drawings and rubbings.
In a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), the university intends to put the archive on a website which will display information at differing levels of complexity, providing a valuable research and teaching resource for academics as well as schools, heritage specialists, landowners, and tourists.
Project leader Dr Aron Mazel, an archaeologist and research associate with the School of Historical Studies at Newcastle University, said it would be the world's most detailed rock art website. It is due to go live next year.
He said: "Rock art, in particular that found in Northumberland, is visually spectacular, but there is also an intriguing air of mystery about it. What does it mean, for example, and why and how did it get there?
"Although there is a lot of theorising about the meaning and motivation behind it, nobody has yet provided a definitive answer.
"We hope the website will encourage further research as well as a general public interest in this fascinating element of our heritage."
For the full story see This is The North East.
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