News Release

Prehistoric art gets the modern touch

Grant and Award Announcement

Newcastle University

An archive featuring England's finest collection of prehistoric rock art – stone carvings aged thousands of years old - is to get a global showcase via what is believed to be the most detailed Internet site of its kind in the world.

The website will include global positioning system readings – highly accurate positions of the artwork compiled using satellites – and digital drawings and photographs.

Northumberland, in North East England, is widely regarded as having the country's richest collection of rock art, with up to 500 examples still existing in the field and written records of up to 750 panels. Examples include England's largest such site at Roughting Linn near the Scottish border. 

International expert Stan Beckensall, who has spent over 30 years documenting this mysterious phenomenon, has just donated his extensive archive to the Museum of Antiquities at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. The records include photographs, books, drawings and rubbings.

In a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), the University intends to make the entire archive widely accessible via a new 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, says the website will be the most detailed website of a rock art area in the world. It is due to go live next year, 2004.

Like all UK rock art, the Northumberland specimens are in the 'cup and ring' style and nobody knows exactly why they exist. A typical work of art would feature cups and circles of various sizes carved into a slab of rock.  Stan Beckensall, a retired headteacher who is based in Hexham, Northumberland, is currently revisiting the panels with Dr. Mazel to update the archive information. The task involves using satellite, or global positioning system (GPS) technology, to take accurate readings of site positions, updating written records and taking photographs.

Theories about the origins of the rock carvings vary. One says they are symbolic expressions of the changing relationship Neolithic people had with the landscape and past societies. Another says the carvings fulfilled a human need to mark the landscape in which communities were living and working.

Dr. Mazel said: "Stan's collection is one of the finest and most extensive archives of rock art that exists, and is a invaluable resource. The University feels extremely privileged to have benefited from his many years of hard work spent collecting and analysing this information and is delighted to be able to make it available to a wider audience on the Internet.

"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."

Stan Beckensall said: "Having worked for so long recording prehistoric rock art, it is deeply satisfying to know that my work will be available to everyone in the future."

Neil Rami, Chief Executive of Newcastle Gateshead Initiative, said: "The North East has a vibrant living history which NewcastleGateshead's bid to be European Capital of Culture 2008 has plans to celebrate. This fascinating project will attract interest from around the world and help raise the region's profile on the international stage. "

The Northumberland Rock Art project has received £140,000 funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Board. 

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FURTHER INFORMATION AND INTERVIEWS

Dr. Aron Mazel/Stan Beckensall, + 44-0-191-222-7845, a.d.mazel@ncl.ac.uk.

AVAILABILITY:

WEDNESDAY MARCH 12 2003. From 9am to 12 noon and from 2pm to 4pm (NB - GMT) Dr. Mazel and Mr. Beckensall will be available on the above number . 

THURSDAY MARCH 13 2003. Dr. Mazel will be updating information about the rock art in the field in Northumberland – all journalists are welcome to join him. Please book all interviews for Thursday on or before Wednesday March 12.  

PICTURES
  Photographs and drawings detailing the rock art are available in jpeg format from Newcastle University Press Office.  Tel 44-191-222-7850, press.office@ncl.ac.uk.

Notes to editors: 1. The Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) funds postgraduate and advanced research within the UK's higher education institutions. All AHRB awards are made on the basis of academic excellence. The AHRB is not responsible for the views or research outcomes expressed by its award holders. http://www.ahrb.ac.uk/.

2. USEFUL WEB LINK: More details about the Northumberland Rock Art Project on the Newcastle University website: http://historical-studies.ncl.ac.uk/research/projects/project_34/index.htm.

3. INFORMATION FOR BROADCASTERS: Newcastle University has a fully equipped radio studio with ISDN line on campus and we are five minutes ride from BBC and independent television studios.

Issued by Newcastle University Press Office. For more information contact Claire Jordan, Mick Warwicker or Melanie Reed + 44-0-191-222- 7850-6067, press.office@ncl.ac.uk, http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office


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