Scotland is home to thousands of rock art pieces across the country, with a large quantity found around the Strathtay and Loch Tay areas. However, there has only ever been a handful of rock art sites excavated in the country.
Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust, with the help of local volunteers, has now decided to excavate a prehistoric rock art site near Aberfeldy in a bid to learn more about the people who lived in the area around 4000 to 6000 years ago.
Due to little excavations being carried out before on the ancient carved stone, archaeologists at the Strathtay dig say they are full of optimism about what they may uncover, as any new evidence will help give them a better insight into the past.
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“We don’t really know what we might find, but anything we do find will be significant and useful in helping us understand a bit more about the stones,” Dr Tertia Barnett, who is leading the excavation, said.
The site is home to five stones, which are carved with mysterious symbols often called cupmarks or cup and ring marks.
A team of 20 volunteers have joined Dr Barnett to dig around the stones in a bid to see if there is any evidence of human activity.
Dr Barnett explained that archaeologists will be keeping a keen eye out for any signs of burning or if the stones were moved, which might indicate what people were doing in the area.
She added that one reason why the Loch Tay area is such a hotbed for prehistoric stone art is possibly due to it being a “really good” place for people in the past to live in, due to the proximity of the river and the hills.
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“You’ve got a whole range of different environments, different landscapes for farming, for cattle, for hunting, things like that,” she said.
“We’ve also got a really good sort of communication network along the Tay from east to west, north to south, when you get down to the Tay Valley.
“It’s possibly somewhere that’s very well connected, very desirable to live in in the past, but those are more kind of practical reasons why there’s so much rock art here.”
Dr Barnett added that there are a lot of theories as to why rock art exists across Scotland, but ultimately, nobody knows why.
The community dig aims to not only discover more about why the enigmatic carvings were made and their importance to the people who carved them, but also to help local residents connect with their own heritage.
Founded in 1988, Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust aims to preserve and increase people’s understanding of the area’s history.
Dr Barnett said the community excavation is a great way for people to get a hands-on experience of learning more about the history of where they live.
“It belongs to everybody, so this is very much trying to encourage people to come out and have a go,” she said.
Dr Barnett added that the excavation of stone art is “more subtle” than other forms of archaeology, where people may want to look at solid features like castle walls, but added that it offers people a “unique experience” in doing something that is carried out often in Scotland.
“It’s not for everybody in terms of not everybody’s going to be that interested in prehistoric stuff, but we’re just trying to make it accessible to people because I think rock art’s got this kind of myth around it where nobody really knows where to find it, how to find it, or anything like that as it’s quite sort of hidden in the land,” she said.
“So this is trying to make it a bit more accessible to people.”
The Loch Tay area isn’t the only place with high concentrations of rock art, with both Dumfries and Galloway and Inverness also recognised for having several sites.
Although rock art is scattered all over Scotland, areas which have been historically intensively farmed have a lot less.
Dr Barnett explained that places like East Lothian should have “loads” of rock art, but because it has been farmed for so long, a lot of them have either been removed or destroyed.
She added that rock art makes up an “important part” of Scotland’s prehistoric landscape, but only a “tiny fraction” of it still exists, though the number is still expected to be in the thousands.
“There’s probably a lot more that’s not been discovered, that’s still either hidden in vegetation or hasn’t been really identified by people,” Dr Barnett said.
“Every year, there are more discoveries made, so there’s probably a lot more out there to be found.”
Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust is holding an open day on September 13, with free guided tours for people interested in visiting the site – booking for one of the tours is via Eventbrite which you can find here.
