Kilmartin rock art panels

Photogrammetric models of rock art sites in Kilmartin Glen, Argyll, Scotland. There are often two versions of each model. One has a colour photographic texture, and the second has a plain texture with can make the carvings easier to see.

Please click on the button to navigate the models in three-dimensions.

Above: Achnabreck has some of the most extensive panels of prehistoric art in Britain and Ireland, and also some of the largest motifs. The north-eastern section of the upper panel features carvings that may be older than others nearby, including several faint spirals, and circular motifs without central cup marks. These have affinities with Irish traditions of rock art that are associated with megalithic tombs, and some appear to have been overlain by later designs. On a clear day there are extensive views as far as the Isle of Arran to the south. This location may have been chosen because it overlooks possible routeways into Kilmartin Glen, which was focus for prolific rock art creation and monument building in the Neolithic and Bronze Age.

Above: The south-western section of the upper panel at Achnabreck features carvings that have been woven into the already distinctive natural grooves and fractures upon the outcrop. These seem to have been significant since one of the largest circular images appears to emerge from a fissure and is divided by a series of geological grooves.

Above: Achnabreck's middle panel features carvings that have been woven into the already distinctive natural grooves and fractures upon the outcrop. These seem to have been significant since the largest circular image was made so that it appears emerge from a fissure.

Above: Achnabreck Wood is a short walk to the east of the main panels. This modest dome of rock is intensively decorated with cup and ring markings.

Photogrammetry: Aaron Watson

Above: Cairnbaan panel 2 is only located a short distance from Cairnbaan panel 1 (below), but has a quite different character. A number of cups, each contained within neatly carved rings, are framed by natural fissures crossing the surface of the bedrock. There are affinities with the more extensive decorated outcrops at Achnabreck, the location of which is visible across Kilmartin Glen. Like that site, Cairnbaan was situated to overlook the confluence of Kilmartin Glen and Kilmicheal Glen, and there are extensive views.

Photogrammetry: Aaron Watson, February 2017

Above: Cairnbaan panel 1 is an elongated outcrop bearing numerous cup and ring markings, likely to date to the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. A series of carved grooves connect many of the circular markings with natural fissures which cross the rock surface. The site has wide views overlooking the south-western approach into Kilmartin Glen, and is intervisible with Achnabreck.

Photogrammetry: Aaron Watson, October 2017

Above: These cup and ring markings are situated upon an outcrop a few metres from panel 1 at Cairnbaan. They likely date to the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. The site has wide views overlooking the south-western approach into Kilmartin Glen, and is intervisible with Achnabreck.

Photogrammetry: Aaron Watson, October 2017

Above: Ormaig is a large rock art site overlooking the coast near Kilmartin Glen. This model shows the best-known panel, featuring unusual symbols like the large cups surrounded by smaller dots and a ring. For these surveys I have used the numbering scheme defined during excavations in 2007.

Photogrammetry: Aaron Watson, February 2018.

Above: In 2007, I worked at Ormaig as an excavator and photographer during fieldwork by Southampton University and Kilmartin Museum. A large area of Exposure 1 South was excavated and carefully cleaned.

The technology which we now use for photogrammetry was still being developed in 2007, and the technique was not used for this project. Instead, the rock art was recorded by tracing. Fortunately, I did capture the freshly excavated outcrop as a mosaic of photographs from which I have since been able to generate this 3D model. Unfortunately, the overlap between photographs was insufficient for a flawless model, leaving a couple of holes in the mesh. 

Photography: Aaron Watson, July 2007.

Above: This model shows the relationship between Exposures 2, 3 and 7 at Ormaig.

Photogrammetry: Aaron Watson, February 2018.