Read About Bicycle Rock

This is much bigger than I expected. Is it well known?

Weetwood 3a is one of the most famous rock art panels in Northumberland and the UK!

Is this the only panel here or is there more rock art in the vicinity?

Actually, we’re in the middle of an incredibly rich rock art area. At Weetwood there are around 30 carved panels. We’ll look at a few of the most interesting ones today, but keep your eyes peeled and you may spot others. Some of them are marked by small modern cairns.

Is rock art all over the place?

In the distance you can see Chatton Park Hill where there are more cup and ring marks. There are 1500 carved stones in Northumberland and Durham alone.

It seems that this panel is quite elaborate.

Some panels are definitely more complex than others, but we don’t know what inspired the carvers to use these designs.

Do we know how they made them?

Well, rock art was first made during the Neolithic period—before metal tools, so they would chip or ‘peck’ the rock with a harder stone. On some of the better preserved panels we can still see the small indentations of the tool marks.

I see. Would everyone have had a go at making rock art or would it have been a special job?

Neolithic people would have been used to working with stone, but there might have been some people who had a special role in making the carvings.