Julian Cope presents Head Heritage | The Modern Antiquarian Forum | Rock art. so what's that all about then. ?

Hob

4033 posts

Re: Rock art. so what's that all about then. ?

Jul 19, 2010, 21:48

Here's a snippet I read a while back in a fictional work about Troy that might (if based on fact) be of relevance. There's a bit in the book where two of the characters are talking about a method of signage used by traders in the Levant during the early bronze age, where by a system of circles and lines was used to indicate if an area had been scouted out for potential custom. It made reference to things like, a circle with a broken ring meant no hostile forces, a broken inner ring meant little trade, unbroken circles meant strong defences and good trade, whilst a line running through two unbroken circles meant the area is unscouted and unknown.

Now this is probably totally made up, but you get my drift, some kind of non-alphabetic code made in permanent marker to assist travelling trade types. Personally, I think it's pretty unlikely to explain our CnRs, but it's a nice thought provoking idea :-)

For my mind, I'm still of the opinion that one of the best explanations is one of the oldest, from Mr Tate in 1853 that the carvings represent 'a common origin, and indicate a symbolic meaning, representing some popular thought, telling of the faith and hope of the original inhabitants of Britain'.

In reply to:
Rock art. so what's that all about then. ? (megadread)

Replies:
Re: Rock art. so what's that all about then. ? (megadread)

The Modern Antiquarian Forum » Rock art. so what's that all about then. ?	Log In to post a reply

118 messages	Topic View: Flat \| Threaded