One of the most fascinating archaeological mysteries is the discovery of the so-called Cochno Stone. Discovered in 1887 by James Harvey, the Cochno Stone is considered one of the best sets of petroglyphs in Europe.

The reason is that it contains more than 90 brands of cup and ring, geometric motifs, spirals, human prints and engravings with different patterns dated in the Bronze Age, about 5,000 years old.

It is located in Auchnacraig, in the Scottish town of West Dunbartonshire, but do not go looking for it because you will not see it. It is buried to protect it from erosion and any other potential threat.

It was only possible to contemplate it during the analysis work carried out in 2015 for three days, and later at the end of 2016 while scanning and digitizing the marks. In this last occasion had to resort to the help of firefighters for cleaning, which revealed the presence of modern graffiti on its surface.

The stone of Cochno is 13 meters long by 8 meters wide and the abundance of petroglyphs gave rise to different theories about its possible use or meaning. Some point to a map of the surrounding settlements, others to ceremonial and religious motives, and there are those who want to see an astronomical function and, of course, those who point to less scientific issues.

But the fact is that it is not known exactly what it served, like most of this type of prehistoric art found mainly in Atlantic Europe (England, Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, Galicia and Portugal), but also elsewhere Of the world as India or Israel.

Generally petroglyphs consist of a small interior depression a few centimeters wide (the bowl) carved into the stone, surrounded by circles or concentric rings, and sometimes spirals. Sometimes a small channel runs through the rings, starting from the bowl towards the outside of the petroglyph.

From its discovery in 1887 and until 1964 Cochno Stone remained in its original place, but in this last year the archaeologists of the University of Glasgow recommended that it be buried to several meters of depth. This was done, although the critical opinions of historians and researchers are not lacking, which they believe should be in sight, thus facilitating their examination.

Apart from the damage suffered by the stone (there are graffiti that date even a few years after their discovery), in the 1930’s the archaeologist Ludovic Maclellan Mann painted on it lines with which he tried to take measurements of the object to see if he had a function Astronomical In the end Mann did not get anything straight, but the lines are still visible today.

In the video you can see how archeologists from the University of Glasgow unearthed the Cochno stone in 2016.

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