Dear Mr Beckensall,
Many thanks for your reply and kind offer to provide an
accompanying article to my photography. I assume a brief introductory article
is what the editor requires. Perhaps an introduction to the history and
discovery of rock art, a brief summary of the differing types and designs, a
discussion of the various ideas surrounding its meaning, concluding with your
own ideas on its meaning, and why you came to study it.
For me the cup and rings are forever linked with the
people who created them and are never separate from them. I spend a lot of time
in the hills and forests of Northumberland and love the outdoor life. I’ve a
lifelong fascination with pre-historic hunter-gatherer culture, particularly of
stone age Britain and Europe, and the relationship these peoples had with the
land around them, so very different from the one we have where we have shaped,
moulded and reduced the natural environment to commodity and so utterly removed
ourselves from that intimate relationship found in cultures that live the
hunter-gatherer life. I find this relationship remarkable for its lack of a
sense of dualism, of ‘us’ here and the land ‘out there’. The ethno botanist and
explorer in residence at the National Geographic, Wade Davis, writes very
eloquently about this relationship and is a favourite author of mine. Where
there was once a wild untamed landscape that upper Palaeolithic peoples began
to decorate with these beautiful carvings, we now have countryside. I believe
it’s clearly evident, given the research I’ve done into modern hunter-gatherer
cultures that these marking clearly reflect a significant part of that
relationship. Its that transcendent quality evident in the places we now find
rock art, the huge vistas of sky, the beauty of the Cheviots seen from for
example Dod Law that lead me to suspect there is a definite sense of ‘worship’
taking place here, of something sacred being summoned and celebrated. I’d very
much like to read your comments on this idea. I’m loath to use the phrase
‘spiritual’ because of its tawdry ‘new age’ associations, however when I first
encountered the stunning panels of Buttony-now concealed in the depths of a
wonderfully atmospheric pine woodland-I think I can just about forgive myself
for imbuing the experience with just such a quality. I was expecting, given the
photo in your book, to exit the woodland onto an open field where I’d locate
the panel. It never occurred to me that woodland might have been planted and
grown up around it since that picture was taken. To stumble upon the panels
unawares like that was a truly wonderful experience I must say. Its in that
subjective experience that I now suspect I can at least approach a deeper
understanding of the meaning of these beautiful and mysterious symbols. Except
for examining and comparing cross-cultural similarities an objective
explanation of meaning simply eludes us doesn’t it?
With regard to the other less known panels yes I will
certainly be continuing to explore and photograph all the rock art I can find.
My intention is to continue this project nationally if I can secure funding.
Unfortunately all those miles in the summer cost me my car, with the head
gasket expiring just at the end of the summer!
I have the greatest respect for what you have achieved
and it’s a genuine thrill to be able to exchange ideas and dialogue about rock
art with so eminent an authority. I look forward to your comments. Many thanks
again for your kind offer. If you can send the article to me at your
convenience I will contact the editor at The Northumbrian and let you know when
it is due to be published.
Warmest regards
Graham Hill
Many thanks for your reply and kind offer to provide an
accompanying article to my photography. I assume a brief introductory article
is what the editor requires. Perhaps an introduction to the history and
discovery of rock art, a brief summary of the differing types and designs, a
discussion of the various ideas surrounding its meaning, concluding with your
own ideas on its meaning, and why you came to study it.
For me the cup and rings are forever linked with the
people who created them and are never separate from them. I spend a lot of time
in the hills and forests of Northumberland and love the outdoor life. I’ve a
lifelong fascination with pre-historic hunter-gatherer culture, particularly of
stone age Britain and Europe, and the relationship these peoples had with the
land around them, so very different from the one we have where we have shaped,
moulded and reduced the natural environment to commodity and so utterly removed
ourselves from that intimate relationship found in cultures that live the
hunter-gatherer life. I find this relationship remarkable for its lack of a
sense of dualism, of ‘us’ here and the land ‘out there’. The ethno botanist and
explorer in residence at the National Geographic, Wade Davis, writes very
eloquently about this relationship and is a favourite author of mine. Where
there was once a wild untamed landscape that upper Palaeolithic peoples began
to decorate with these beautiful carvings, we now have countryside. I believe
it’s clearly evident, given the research I’ve done into modern hunter-gatherer
cultures that these marking clearly reflect a significant part of that
relationship. Its that transcendent quality evident in the places we now find
rock art, the huge vistas of sky, the beauty of the Cheviots seen from for
example Dod Law that lead me to suspect there is a definite sense of ‘worship’
taking place here, of something sacred being summoned and celebrated. I’d very
much like to read your comments on this idea. I’m loath to use the phrase
‘spiritual’ because of its tawdry ‘new age’ associations, however when I first
encountered the stunning panels of Buttony-now concealed in the depths of a
wonderfully atmospheric pine woodland-I think I can just about forgive myself
for imbuing the experience with just such a quality. I was expecting, given the
photo in your book, to exit the woodland onto an open field where I’d locate
the panel. It never occurred to me that woodland might have been planted and
grown up around it since that picture was taken. To stumble upon the panels
unawares like that was a truly wonderful experience I must say. Its in that
subjective experience that I now suspect I can at least approach a deeper
understanding of the meaning of these beautiful and mysterious symbols. Except
for examining and comparing cross-cultural similarities an objective
explanation of meaning simply eludes us doesn’t it?
With regard to the other less known panels yes I will
certainly be continuing to explore and photograph all the rock art I can find.
My intention is to continue this project nationally if I can secure funding.
Unfortunately all those miles in the summer cost me my car, with the head
gasket expiring just at the end of the summer!
I have the greatest respect for what you have achieved
and it’s a genuine thrill to be able to exchange ideas and dialogue about rock
art with so eminent an authority. I look forward to your comments. Many thanks
again for your kind offer. If you can send the article to me at your
convenience I will contact the editor at The Northumbrian and let you know when
it is due to be published.
Warmest regards
Graham Hill
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