Book Review: Inscribing the Landscape: the Rock Art of South Leinster
Submitted by SolarMegalith on Thursday, 10 March 2016 Page Views: 2662
Rock ArtCountry: Ireland (Republic of) Type: Rock ArtInternal Links:
South Leinster forms the South-Eastern corner of Ireland, including the counties of Wicklow, Carlow and Wexford, as well as parts of counties of Kilkenny, Kildare and Dublin. Christiaan Corlett focuses on the rock art in the landscape in this area, and while he provides some important background on the passage grave art and major types of megalithic monuments in this area (p. 5-13), the book requires a general knowledge of Irish prehistory on part of the reader. However, the regional background is excellent, especially in terms of geography and geology, which is particularly important for the discussion of distribution patterns of prehistoric rock art in South Leinster.
Corlett’s discussion of the distribution of the rock art panels reveals good understanding of the factors influencing it, such as different types of rocks, elevation of the area, visibility, access to the sites and the relationships with nearby monuments. The author also understands the processes which mask seeing the original distribution of rock art; among them easy portability of smaller decorated boulders (and thus removal from their original locations), destruction of large erratic boulders by stonecutters and re-use of small decorated stones in field walls. The understanding and combination of all these factors in the discussion allows for a plausible and informed analysis regarding the distribution patterns of decorated rocks in different parts of South Leinster.
Of particular significance is Corlett’s discussion of the relationship between rock art and later prehistoric monuments (p. 45-56), which allows him to place the cup-and-ring tradition in a wider context of the local prehistory. While the author discusses the relationship between rock art and different types of monuments, such as wedge tombs (Ballyedmunduff, County Dublin), stone circles (Athgreany, County Wicklow) and cist graves (Hempstown Commons, County Kildare), he retains a critical view of the significance of these connections, especially considering the different chronological relationships between cup-and-ring marks and other specific types of monuments.
Discussion of the typology of motifs occurring in the prehistoric rock art of South Leinster successfully avoids the temptations of trying to decipher a specific meaning of these petroglyphs or just looking at their variety in terms of statistics and numbers. The author describes not only different types of motifs, but also the relationships between them on specific panels. He makes a particularly important observation by pointing out (p. 78), that we often tend to focus on the most elaborate motifs, assuming they were the most important ones, while paying less attention to much more numerous plain cup-marks, which – due to their commonness – might have been deemed more important even than elaborate motifs by their prehistoric creators.
The catalogue of the rock art sites in South Leinster includes detailed descriptions of specific panels (each one is described separately) and has excellent photographic documentation. The photographs are a real treat for the eyes, including photos taken at low sunlight, and with the use of artificial lighting. They are supplemented with a number of archival photos and drawings. Some of the panels documented in the catalogue are recent discoveries, among them Ballintemple 1 and 2 (discovered in 2010 and 2013 respectively), and Dranagh 2 (discovered in 2008). Unfortunately, the catalogue entries do not include grid references, and the maps are few and rather simplistic (although they do present the general topography of the area). Thus, despite descriptions of locations with important landmarks mentioned, it might be difficult to visit the sites with the use of this book and without further information from other sources.
Concluding, Christiaan Corlett’s book offers good documentation and discussion of in-depth research of petroglyphs in the South-Eastern counties of Ireland, constituting an important contribution to our knowledge about the rock art of Ireland and its wider context in the prehistory of the region. It can be recommended primarily to those interested in the rock art of the British Isles and the later prehistory of Ireland.
Review by Cezary Namirski (SolarMegalith)
Published by: Wordwell Books, 2014
128 Pages
ISBN: 1905569858
Available from Wordwell Books
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