Hi Pilgrim ,
It is often suggested that standing stones with RA were carved in situ then moved to be erected , evidence for this is the discovery of markings below ground level and hence difficult to carve .That makes perfect sense . However there are of examples of both sides of the standing stone being marked so at least one must have been done after moving from the original site if not erection . The stone in the pic ,from Kilmartin is part of a group that despite the Canmore description have far more carvings , on edges of stones and faces . Personally I think a lot of the carvings would have been done at least before erection if only because it was easier but maybe that misses some important point in relation to ritual or the markings having some relevance to the erection site .

Eyup,

Fwiw, I reckon the former.

Can't quite explain why I think this, except for the scarcity of RA on vertical surfaces, and the fact that re-use of cist covers etc from open air panels seems to have been quite fashionable in the bronze age, which is when the Largie stuff seems to have been put up.

I think it would have taken more effort to have marked a vertical face, as gravity is obviously against you, though the stone picks and mallets that are though to have been used weren't all that heavy.

There are only 3 examples of RA on vertical outcrop I can think of, Ballochmyle, Morwick and Hawthornden. Though it could be argued thatsome of the motifs at Buttony are on vertical surfaces too.

Of course, seeing as how no-one really has much of a clue as to what the heck it's all about anyway, maybe there were different sets of rules for BA stones, and it maybe whilst it was OK to prise a motif off an existing panel to use as a cist cover, it might have been unthinkable to do the same for a standing stone.

In defence of the 'Raised then marked' idea, I can't think of any marked standing stones that look like they show signs of having been quarried, (though that might well be because the marked stones were once earthfast glacial erratics).

Hi Pilgrim -

Marked, then raised - no doubt about it! Begging the question: how long before it was raised were the cup&rings carved? But that's another issue...

Cheers - Paul