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How is Rock Art aged?
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tiompan
tiompan
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Re: How is Rock Art aged?Moving On
Dec 26, 2012, 11:15
The problem of establishing any sequence on a surface with multiple markings i.e. cup marks is dating ,they may have been done in a short period by one person or over a much longer period by one or more persons , we can’t tell.

Apart from stylistic clues , one thing we can be more sure of in terms of sequence is when one motif has been superimposed upon by another ,this is most obvious in Upper Paleolithic Cave art , and locally , Irish passage grave engravings , including open air kerb stones . Uncommon in open air sites in Britain , or not nearly as obvious as open air sites elsewhere , (it has been suggested that Achnabreck has superimpositions over some worn markings but this is not borne out by the evidence ) but relatively common wherever rock art is found world wide European examples in . Valcamonica , Italy , Galicia and some Norwegian engravings where the earlier “hunter “ engravings of animals has been superimposed upon by later Bronze Age symbols like boats , cups etc as there are also examples of the differnet styles alonside each other it may be the type of thing you were thinking of in the question ,as it it is not just superimposition .In most examples of superimposition dating is still problematic , often all that can be said is that the later superimpositions post date the earlier .
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