Maarten van Hoek The Geography of Cup-and-Ring ... - StoneWatch

floodplain of the valley of the Upper Rhine near Carschenna via either
Tinizong and the Albula gorge or the Via Mala. Having reached the
Rhine at Carschenna one knew that the strenuous crossing of the Alps
was done and that more easy travelling via wide valley floors was ahead.
At Mels and Sevelen (13 and 14 on Fig. 58) one finds the last simple
cup-and-ring sites on one of the longest routes through the Alps.
* 1.4.1.2.3 I will now discuss the two routes leading north from
Valtelina. When people arrived in Valtelina via the Aprica Pass (A in
Fig. 65) they could travel
via the rather high
Bernina Pass (2330 m)
opposite the Rupe Magna,
or continue along the River
Adda towards Lake Como.
According to Schwegler
(pers. comm.) the major
route via the Bernina Pass
guided people through the
Julier Pass (J) or the
Septimer Pass (S) into the
valley of Oberhalbstein.
FIG. 65: ROUTES TO CARSCHENNA. In this beautiful valley we
find the second richest
cup-and-ring site of the Alps, Tinizong (T in Fig. 65; 2 in Fig. 58), high
above the valley floor, at a spot with panoramic views. This altitude
reminds us that often Alpine rock art could only be executed and
viewed by prehistoric people in the summer.
* 1.4.1.2.3.1 Tinizong (Rageth 1997) is a large outcrop knoll,
located at 1680 m, on a rather level part of the mountain slope with at
least 101 cupules with up to six rings. Most rings are closely packed
and rather delicately and superficially pecked out, with rather small
central cupules. Single cupules are equally small and moreover scarce:
they comprise only 13.4 % of the 119 cupules. Strikingly there are no
(radial) grooves, characteristic for the last phase of the cup-and-ring
tradition. Therefore, Tinizong may perhaps be ascribed to the Middle
Neolithic. The wealth of petroglyphs at Tinizong confirms the
importance of the route, which ultimately led via Lenzerheide to Chur
on the river Rhine. Schwegler claims that the route from Tinizong to
Carschenna probably was not very important (pers. comm.) but a
complex carving at the other side of the valley, at Savognin (+ in Fig.
65), may indicate a connection with Carschenna at some date.
Surprisingly, the sites of Tinizong and Savognin are intervisible; a
feature that hardly ever occurs in Alpine cup-and-ring art. Both sites
are only 3 km apart on either side of the valley. The one at Savognin,
at 1450 m, offers an excellent view to the north, but also to the east
M. van HOEK: 95
GEOGRAPHY