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From Yorkshire Post Today
Prehistoric rock art revealed
Julie Hemmings
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have discovered more than 250 new examples of England's finest array of prehistoric rock art carvings in some of the country's remotest countryside.
The historic artworks were unearthed during a two-and-a-half-year trawl of expanses of moorland in Northumberland, close to the Scottish border.
Experts are still grappling with the origins and meaning of these abstract carvings, believed to be the work of Neolithic and Early Bronze Age people between 6,000 and 3,500 years ago.
Discoveries by Newcastle University archaeologists include a collection at Goatstones, near Wark, Northumberland, where a haul of 14 carved stones was found.
Elsewhere in the county, a farmer alerted the team to seven previously unrecorded panels on his land.
Stones with similar cup and ring carvings have been found elsewhere, including Ilkley Moor and the Chesterfield area of Derbyshire.
Last year English Heritage archaeologists discovered a carved stone, with unusual geometric carvings they think might be a map, near Fylingdales on the North York Moors. It was exposed after a major blaze on the moors in September 2003.
The Newcastle University finds can be admired on a new website, which carries 6,000 images and is said to be the most comprehensive of its kind in the world.
Inspiration for the project came from Northumberland rock art specialist Stan Beckensall, who donated his archive of books, photographs, drawings and rubbings to Newcastle University.
* The website can be viewed at http://rockart.ncl.ac.uk/
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