Dr Nash started by explaining what Rock Art is. Essentially it is marks on stone made by man. The marks are mostly produced by pecking at the surface of one stone with another, making small indentations. They are often small round pits known as Cup-Marks. There is no known meaning for these but lots of suggestions; religion, territorial, political or just for fun.
He was asked to look at the stone as a recognised authority on Rock Art. The stone had been found in 2008 when the old road to Chester was being remodelled. As the hedges at the side of a lay-by were cleared back a row of stones was found marking the edge, the Pegasus Stone was one of these.
It has been severely chopped into by ploughing; this indicates that it has been moved from its original site. It was deposited in Oswestry Museum and it was only when he was asked to look at it that it was registered in the Heritage Record HER29206.
Dr. Nash told us that it was very difficult to date Rock Art as there was no scientific method, the only way is stylistically. He showed us pictures of a variety of Rock Art and carvings from various places including Germany, Portugal and France.
The Palaeolithic horses from Lascaux are stocky animals with thick necks and well rounded stomachs. The animals from the later Bronze and Iron Ages are slimmer and sometimes even disjointed like the White Horse from Uffington.
The Pegasus horse has a carving in bas-relief which is slimmer than the palaeolithic ones. It was found outside the hill fort not inside but it has been moved and could have been from the fort, it is considered likely to be the same vintage.
He dates it as Iron Age, it is quite difficult to see and he said initially he could see nothing but by changing the lighting he was able to identify and photograph the horse.
Why was it outside the fort? It may have started in the fort but he feels it could have been part of a Romano-British roadside shrine, it has clearly had a rough life and been moved perhaps more than once.
The fort itself was constructed on a low hill which gives good views all around. It has not had much serious investigation but traces of occupation from Neolithic to WW1 have been found. The majority of artefacts so far discovered in the area have been Iron Age.
We are arranging to visit the site next year with Dr. Nash.
He was asked to look at the stone as a recognised authority on Rock Art. The stone had been found in 2008 when the old road to Chester was being remodelled. As the hedges at the side of a lay-by were cleared back a row of stones was found marking the edge, the Pegasus Stone was one of these.
It has been severely chopped into by ploughing; this indicates that it has been moved from its original site. It was deposited in Oswestry Museum and it was only when he was asked to look at it that it was registered in the Heritage Record HER29206.
Dr. Nash told us that it was very difficult to date Rock Art as there was no scientific method, the only way is stylistically. He showed us pictures of a variety of Rock Art and carvings from various places including Germany, Portugal and France.
The Palaeolithic horses from Lascaux are stocky animals with thick necks and well rounded stomachs. The animals from the later Bronze and Iron Ages are slimmer and sometimes even disjointed like the White Horse from Uffington.
The Pegasus horse has a carving in bas-relief which is slimmer than the palaeolithic ones. It was found outside the hill fort not inside but it has been moved and could have been from the fort, it is considered likely to be the same vintage.
He dates it as Iron Age, it is quite difficult to see and he said initially he could see nothing but by changing the lighting he was able to identify and photograph the horse.
Why was it outside the fort? It may have started in the fort but he feels it could have been part of a Romano-British roadside shrine, it has clearly had a rough life and been moved perhaps more than once.
The fort itself was constructed on a low hill which gives good views all around. It has not had much serious investigation but traces of occupation from Neolithic to WW1 have been found. The majority of artefacts so far discovered in the area have been Iron Age.
We are arranging to visit the site next year with Dr. Nash.
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