Mystery messages carved into Scotland's rocks up to 5,000 years ago may soon be revealed using 3D scans

• New project will use 3D scanners to record and analyse 5,000-year-old art
• There are more than 2,000 pieces of carved rock art across Scotland 
• One amateur archaeologist George Currie has discovered 670 of them
• The scans could help to reveal new connections between the carvings

By Richard Gray for MailOnline

Their meaning has been lost in ancient history but the distinctive marks on rocks by our ancestors thousands of years ago provide a unique link to our prehistoric past.

Now a new project has been launched in an attempt to finally unravel some of the mysteries of the prehistoric rock art carved into stones in Scotland.

Experts are to create a new digital database using 3D scanning to record and study more than 2,000 carvings across the country.

Archaeologists are now hoping to unravel some of their secrets with a new project that will use 3D scanners to record the carvings (an extensive cup and ring carting at  Achnabreck in Kilmartin Glen pictured)

Helping them will be amateur archaeologist George Currie, 66, who has tracked down an incredible 670 examples of the ancient carvings, which can be up to 5,000 years old.

Over the past 13 years he has painstakingly searched, photographed and logged the location using GPS of a wide collection of different pieces of rock art.

Most are cup and ring carvings – a deep depression surrounded by concentric rings – and horseshoe shapes.

But the ancient artworks also include shapes that resemble human footprints etched into the solid rock.

Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Currie, a musician from Dundee, said: 'The idea is to cover the whole of Scotland to record all of the rock art in 3D where ever possible.

'It is going to be challenging getting the equipment into some quite awkward places, but once we have done it the next stage will be to analyse it.

'We will be able to locate these motifs in the landscape and compare how they vary from one area to another.

'It will also be possible to look at how motifs were used through time – many have symbolism that date backs thousands of years and we know little about why they were created.

'But in some places they have been reused thousands of years later in Pictish carvings or incorporated into hill forts.'

There are an estimated 6,000 cup and ring carvings known across Britain with at least a third of these located in Scotland.

There are more than 2,000 pieces of rock art carved into stones around Scotland (cup and ring carving at Gallow Hill near Dundee pictured)

George Currie, a musician from Dundee, says he has found and recorded the locations of 670 rock carvings (pictured) dating back to almost 4000BC 

Researchers have few ideas about what the significance of the carvings are. Many have been used in burial mounds but others are hidden alone on patches of hillside or moor (cup and ring marks at Beinn Ghlas, Kinlochleven pictured) 

The distinctive shapes, however, are found all across Europe, but their significance is still poorly understood.

Historic Environment Scotland has now been awarded £807,000 by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to run the project, called 'Scotland's Rock Art in context'.

The five year project is due to be launched in January 2017.

Mr Currie said while some of the carvings can be found on stones embedded in the ground, others are buried within burrows alongside ancient burials.

Most of the rock art found around Scotland take the form of cup and rings (extensive cup and rings at Achnabreck in Kilmartin Glen pictured), but there are often other shapes such as horseshoes and even carved footprints etched into the rock

One of the oldest carved rocks to be found in association with a burial dating to 3,400BC was already well worn. 

'It suggests the carving was already much older than the burial,' he said.

'It may be that these carvings held some significance long after they were created in much the same way we value old and historic items today.' 

Dr Tertia Barnett, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh who will lead the project, said it could help to unravel some of the mysteries of the cup and ring symbols.

She said it could help to explain some of the connections between prehistoric communities across Europe.

Rebecca Bailey, from Historic Environment Scotland, said: 'We look forward to the teams getting out into the field, making new discoveries, generating new knowledge, and sharing that on an international stage.'

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