For the past four years, Dr George Nash from the University of Bristol and Welsh Rock Art Organisation has led a team of archaeologists at Barclodiad y Gawres ('Apronful of the Giantess'), a prehistoric burial-ritual site on Anglesey, in Wales. Rock art engravings at the site date to the Neolithic period and are around 5,000 years old. Thanks to EU funding, the monument is to be celebrated at Oriel Ynys Môn Museum next year.
     Dr Nash said: "The funding will allow us to create an exhibition celebrating this site by linking art and archaeology. We have artists, musicians and craftsmen all working on installations inspired by the site and the exhibition will be open to the public in Anglesey from 2015."
     At the site of the monument an installation has recently been created with Professor Dragos Gheorghiu from the National University of Arts, Bucharest, using a land-art approach to looking at landscape. Dr Nash said: "From the pictures it looks like we've basically stuck toilet roll along the site of the monument but what we've done is drawn out some of the original shapes and features of the site and how it might have been used."
     As part of the project a specialist team, led by Dr Nash, will undertake an extensive survey of the engravings using a variety of media including a photographic record and acetate tracing methods.
     Dr Nash said: "It is important to remember that this is by far the most intricate and important rock art in Wales and England... we are undertaking laser scanning of all the rock artwork so it can be recreated, something which will be done by the end of this summer. In the four or five years we've been investigating the site we've also managed to find a lot more rock-art than was previously known to exist. The original records for this site were written in 1953 and from six stones, using all manner of lighting techniques, we have uncovered around 30% more rock-art than was first recorded in 1953 and that dates back to the neolithic period."

Edited from Wales Online (17 June 2014)