2022

NT1269 : Stone Carving on Tormain Hill

taken 2 years ago, near to Bonnington, Edinburgh, Scotland

Stone Carving on Tormain Hill
Stone Carving on Tormain Hill
This is probably the second most interesting stone (or panel as the archeologists seem to call them) of the seven or eight around this spot on Tormain Hill. The most interesting (to me anyway) has a very shabby OS bench mark inscribed on it, and I mistakenly thought that my mind was playing tricks when I saw it, it (my mind!) being very map-inclined. Having now read the official write-ups it seems that it was indeed an OS bench mark, used for the surveying of their first map of the area in the 1850s. So, if anyone visits these stones - which are all very close to one another - the reason the OS benchmark is next to a hole in the rock is that they drilled into an existing prehistoric man-made depression to erect some kind of marker from which they could more easily do their surveying.
The markings on the rocks at this spot are said to be Bronze Age. Further reading around the subject of rock carving dating techniques has made me sceptical of such precise dating though. The problem with these very basic rock carvings is that there is nothing left behind to indicate when the carving was undertaken. The way these dates are usually worked out is by comparing them with similar carvings found at sites nearby which also have dateable artefacts on site - eg they may be be part of a burial ground with old bones inside, or be buried beneath mud containing the remains of 3000-year-old beetles etc. However, Scottish rock carvings are usually all very similar, basic and abstract, so in my unlearned opinion these markings could have been made from any point between around 60000 and 2000 years ago. Or just a hoax (though this is extremely unlikely!).

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Ian Dodds and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts Woodland, Forest Primary Subject: Carved Stone other tags: OS Historic Canmore Spot Scheduled Monument Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Tormain Hill [6] · Bronze Age [5] · Stone [3] ·
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NT1269, 29 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Ian Dodds   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Monday, 8 August, 2022   (more nearby)
Submitted
Tuesday, 9 August, 2022
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NT 1290 6966 [10m precision]
WGS84: 55:54.7275N 3:23.6987W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NT 1290 6966
View Direction
WEST (about 270 degrees)
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Image Type (about): geograph 
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