Scotland's Rock Art in context: placement, re-placement and engagement

Rock art is a global phenomenon. It is often a defining feature of cultural heritage and identity, attracting considerable scholarly interest, capturing public imagination and even inspiring contemporary artists. In Britain, over 6,000 rocks with 'cup-and-ring' carvings are known, although detailed knowledge of British rock art remains very limited beyond a handful of academic and private specialists, with wider awareness restricted to a few key regions such as Northumberland and Kilmartin (Argyll). Over a third of the carvings are in Scotland, an area which would be highly suitable for comparative analysis if it had a comprehensive database. Our aim is to work with local communities and heritage organisations in order to undertake a systematic study of how the rock art landscape in Britain was shaped by human actions and beliefs.

The research is structured around three questions: How was rock art used in the landscape? How have the carvings been reused over time? How is rock art used and valued today? The motifs were engraved onto selected fixed natural rock surfaces during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (c.4000-1800 BC). While it may remain impossible to ascertain the intrinsic meanings of these carvings, the study of their form, location and contextual associations can illuminate their significance. From the Late Neolithic period onwards, many carved rocks were taken from their original contexts and reused in built structures, indicating their continued currency. In more recent times carvings have frequently been re-located to museums and private collections, or destroyed. Analysis of rock art use and reuse is therefore crucial to understanding the behaviour, perceptions, and values that have defined places and communities through time.

This is the first major research project to focus on British rock art at this scale. Previous studies have concentrated on single sites or regional clusters, creating a fragmented and distorted impression that obscures common themes or variations, and hinders understanding of the wider regional connections and identities suggested by the motifs and their contexts. Furthermore, that the carvings often had a long life beyond the Early Bronze Age has not been considered, despite evidence of deliberate reuse in later structures. Today, rock art in Britain has a low social visibility and value. Studying contemporary attitudes to rock art will reveal how social values are forged through changing awareness, engagement and education, which is vital for future research, heritage management, and community empowerment.

Wide-ranging consultation with heritage organisations and community groups has revealed a deep interest in the research, and enthusiasm for cross-sector collaboration. The project builds on our extensive experience of community engagement, rock art visualisation, and research. Working with local communities and heritage bodies across the country, we will produce a comprehensive database of Scotland's rock art, including 3D and 2D digital models, which we will use as a tool for investigating the carvings at local, regional and inter-regional scales.

We will integrate the rock art data with archaeological and land-use datasets in a GIS model to enable us to undertake geospatial analysis of the carvings in relation to their placement in the landscape and changing cultural contexts from prehistory to the present day. Carvings will be analysed statistically and added to the GIS model in order to explore regional variability and to determine potential patterning of attributes in relation to specific topographical and cultural features. Historical accounts and local community involvement will inform our understanding of changing perceptions, treatment and social value of rock art.

In conclusion, this project will make a major contribution to British and Northern European archaeology, and be an important point of reference for world rock art studies.

Beyond academia, our research will have significant impact on government agencies and policy-makers, public-sector organisations, heritage practitioners and third-sector bodies, and local communities across Scotland. In particular, this project will:

- Place rock art firmly on the agenda with government bodies by raising awareness of key issues, informing understanding, and enhancing public value. It will do this through reports to the host organisation, Historic Environment Scotland (HES), which will be established on 1 October 2015 as the new lead public body for the historic environment. The research will also inform discussion and recommendations for future research directions and policy-making on prehistoric rock art through the National Committee on Carved Stones in Scotland (NCCSS) and Scottish Archaeological Research Framework (ScARF) panel. Collaboration with Local Authority Archaeologists throughout the project will embed rock art within local and regional archaeological strategies.

- Revise and standardise the publicly accessible rock art archive for Scotland. Incorporating the database into Canmore and local Historic Environment Records will benefit these organisations by ensuring that the publicly available data are reliable and up-to-date. The revised database will have multiple and far-reaching impact - for public-sector agencies and practitioners involved in development planning; for schools and Higher Education institutions developing educational resources and activities; for students, local groups, academics and individuals in Scotland and worldwide with research and creative interests; and for enhancing access and understanding among the wider public.

- Inform conservation and management strategies, with benefits both for public-sector bodies and for the rock art. The database and outcomes will enable heritage managers to assess current condition and potential risk. Identification of high-risk panels may lead to enhanced protective status with their designation as Scheduled Ancient Monuments. The project will also provide comprehensive benchmark data for measuring change and deterioration over time, with significant potential for future research.

- Produce and implement a methodology for low-cost, low impact, high-resolution rock art recording using state-of-the-art digital visualisation tools and a mobile online data input system. The methodology has considerable scope for use by professionals, amateur specialists and community groups for recording rock art and archaeological sites anywhere in the world.

- Share skills, knowledge and expertise with local communities. Embedding new capacity within local communities will build confidence, which will encourage the development of initiatives with wider reach, and facilitate the transfer of skills to other community members. New awareness and experience gained through participation may also have profound benefits for longer-term community-led monitoring and care of the rock art.

- Support community empowerment through co-design and co-production of research activities and outputs, leading to stronger communities and an enhanced sense of ownership and pride in the local heritage, with implications for the future treatment of rock art, and wider heritage.

- Connect heritage-sector organisations and local communities across Scotland through shared research objectives and fieldwork methods, establishing a legacy for future cross-sector research initiatives.

- Raise public awareness. British prehistoric rock art is virtually unknown among the wider public, resulting in low social value and negligible attention from heritage professionals. Our research aims to increase public access, understanding and appreciation of the rock art through outputs and activities targeted at a wider audience. This will potentially enrich the social value of the rock art and, in the longer-term, improve public and professional care and responsibility.