 Twin entrances to the Sculptor's Cave | |
 | |
| Location | Covesea, Moray, Scotland |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 57°43′07″N3°23′11″W / 57.7187°N 3.3864°W |
| Type | Cave |
| History | |
| Founded | c. 500-700 |
| Site notes | |
| Public access | Yes |
| Official name | Sculptor's Cave |
| Type | Prehistoric domestic and defensive: cave |
| Designated | 24 October 1979 |
| Reference no. | SM4220 |
The Sculptor's Cave is a sandstone cave on the south shore of the Moray Firth in Scotland, near the small settlement of Covesea, between Burghead and Lossiemouth in Moray. [1] It is named after the Pictish carvings incised on the walls of the cave near its entrances. [2] There are seven groups of carvings dating from the 6th or 7th century, including fish, crescent and V-rod, pentacle, triple oval, step, rectangle, disc and rectangle, flower, and mirror patterns, [1] some very basic but others more sophisticated. [3]
The cave is 20m deep and 13.5m wide with a 5.5m high roof and can be entered by two parallel 11m long passages, each 2-3m wide. [4] It lies at the base of 30m high cliffs and is largely inaccessible at high tide. [5]
The cave was first excavated between 1928 and 1930 by Sylvia Benton, who discovered evidence of two main periods of activity on the site: the first during the late Bronze Age, and the second during the late Roman Iron Age, between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD. [5]
