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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?
Dec 16, 2012, 17:39
Sanctuary wrote:
tiompan wrote:
Sanctuary wrote:
Harryshill wrote:
It's possible then that they evolved to more complex patterns and then slowly (or not) reverted to a simpler style..



I've always believed that nobody did anything without good reason, so what the heck do cupmarks represent, do or say?




Good reason for them doesn't mean that you or I might be able to understand that reason . People do things every day in our communties /time /culture that we don't understand , even after they attempted to explain it .
Why should we expect to understand a silent voice so distant temporally and culturally ?


So have you not 'moved on' in your understanding of them at all then George or are you still evaluating? Any speculative thoughts?


The brilliant J.Y. Simpson,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Young_Simpson
wrote " Archaic Sculpturings of cups, circles and . upon stone and rocks in Scotland, England and other countries." in 1867 , many would argue that it has not been bettered . Since then our understanding of other areas of archaeology has improved dramtically but not rock art , although plenty has been written since ,with most of the speculation lasting not much more than it takes to refute . There are some elements of a possible grammar that have been noted since Simpson e.g. the previously mentioned open access and less open styles or De Saulieu's art ostentatoire and art discret , funerary art has motifs rarely found outwith these contexts , some pasage grave may be associated with particular architectural features .etc .
Most people that I know that know anything about the subject are just happy to appreciate , contrast and compare the engravings and have a laugh .
The problem is that too often single simplistic explanations are suggested when the subject covers huge swathes of time ,cultures and geography and clearly has many different possible "explanations " .
I would speculate that in ninety years time there will still be books and articles claiming to know the "meaning " of the engravings and they will be instantly refuted .
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