Croft Moraig - Rock Art

 Click on the small photos below for a high resolution picture (average size 85Kb).

Stone at SSW
Natural light.		Low angle illumination.

Part of the phase two construction at Croft Moraig was a kerbed rubble bank encircling the first "horseshoe" stone ring.
 On top of this bank at the SSW is a large stone with many cupmarks on its exposed upper face. The stone is aligned
 with the major southern moonset when viewed from the centre of the stone ring and the stones of the inner ring are
 graded up in height towards this stone.
Another stone from this phase is also cupmarked, the NE stone of the "horseshoe" ring, the alignment in this case is said
 to be with the midsummer sunrise above an horizon elevated by mountains. Unfortunately our film of this stone was lost,
 so no pics until our next visit to the region, sorry :o(  

The lunar alignment, cupmarking and height grading of the phase two elements are all features that we
 have seen many times in the recumbent stone circles of Aberdeenshire.

Click on the small photos below for a high resolution picture (average size 85Kb)

Northern Eastern Outer Circle Stone
The inner face, natural light.		Close up, natural light

Low angle illumination.		Oblique view, natural light.

While examining the NE inner circle stone, we spotted these markings on the NE stone of the outer circle. We have
searched the literature covering rock art at Croft Moraig and can find no record of these possible cupmarks.
Many sources, including the detailed excavation report on the site (Piggott & Simpson, Proc Prehist Soc 37, p1-15, 1971),
 mention cups on the supine SSW stone and the NE inner circle stone, but we could find no accounts of rock art on
 any of the stones of the outer phase 3 ring.
Although some of the marks are shallow, perhaps from weathering, at least two of the pits looked like good
deep circular cupmarks to us. The clustering of the marks and their presence on the NE stone, a position
corresponding to that of the cupmarked inner circle stone, adds further weight to the idea that these indentations are
genuine cupmarks.