Summary
Rock art panel on a sandstone outcrop, of Neolithic/early Bronze Age date (approximately 3800 BC to 1500 BC).
Reasons for Designation
The prehistoric rock art on Weetwood Moor 1 km south west of Clavering is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: despite their susceptibility to natural weathering, the motifs are reasonably well preserved;
* Documentation: ritual and religious sites of Prehistoric Britain including rock art are relatively scarce and lack contemporary documentation, hence the value of the archaeological remains is enhanced as they provide our only evidence of the belief system and society which produced them;
* Diversity: among the motifs represented are a particularly striking pair, each comprising a cup surrounded by five pennanulars with a duct;
* Potential: these survivals will contribute to our knowledge of prehistoric society through study of the individual motifs and through an increased understanding of the circumstances in which rock art was created and the sites used;
* Group value: taken as a group with other rock art in the vicinity, they will enhance both our understanding of the inter-relationships between individual panels, and their relationship to the wider landscape. The panels lie in the vicinity of nearby scheduled prehistoric rock art at Weetwood and Fowberry.
History
The term prehistoric rock art is most commonly applied to a specific style of carvings created in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age (approximately 3800 BC to 1500 BC). This type of carving shares a limited set of motifs, with numerous variations around the main themes, and is found throughout northern Europe in a wide range of contexts, from isolated natural outcrops to burial cairns and standing stones. The most common form of motifs are the simple ‘cup mark’ (a shallow bowl-shaped depression a few centimetres across ) and the ‘cup and ring’ (a cup mark surrounded by one or more concentric circular grooves); many carvings also incorporate or are framed within linear grooves. Motifs may occur singly, in small groups, or may cover extensive areas of rock surface. The exact meaning of the designs remains unknown and a wide range of interpretations have been suggested, but they appear to be abstract and held some unknown, possibly sacred meaning for those who created and observed them. Over 5000 separate rock art sites are known in Britain of which more than half are in England and while some examples do occur further south, they are mainly confined to the upland areas of the north.
Details
Principal elements: prehistoric rock art panel, of Neolithic/early Bronze Age date (approximately 3800 BC to 1500 BC).
Sources
Books and journals Websites http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/era/section/panel/overview.jsf?eraId=126
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
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