Maarten van Hoek The Geography of Cup-and-Ring ... - StoneWatch
Maarten van Hoek The Geography of Cup-and-Ring ... - StoneWatch
Maarten van Hoek The Geography of Cup-and-Ring ... - StoneWatch
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idge called Crete des Barmes, only some 25 m above the valley floor <strong>of</strong><br />
the river Rhône. <strong>The</strong>re are very many <strong>of</strong> such outcrop ridges in this<br />
area, but only one other outcrop<br />
nearby bears ten cupmarks <strong>and</strong><br />
two grooves. At Crete des<br />
Barmes, possibly up to nine cups<br />
are ringed with one or two rings<br />
(detail at Fig. 72). <strong>The</strong> ringmarks<br />
are hardly visible, being almost<br />
weathered <strong>of</strong>f completely. Also<br />
carved on this rock are crudely<br />
me<strong>and</strong>ering grooves (unlike the<br />
FIG. 72: ST. LEONARD.<br />
ones in Savoie), a footprint,<br />
squares <strong>and</strong> anthropomorphic figures from other periods; probably the<br />
Iron Age.<br />
<strong>The</strong> view from this site focuses mainly to the west <strong>and</strong> includes the<br />
three pointed hills on which the medieval town <strong>of</strong> Sion has been built.<br />
<strong>The</strong> views to the east <strong>and</strong> north are almost completely blocked. To the<br />
south however, looking across the Rhône valley, it is possible to see the<br />
entrance to the valley <strong>of</strong> Val d’Hérens, in which the biggest<br />
concentration <strong>of</strong> cup-<strong>and</strong>-rings <strong>of</strong> Wallis is found. Again it proves that<br />
entrances have been marked with petroglyphs.<br />
<strong>The</strong> entrance <strong>of</strong> this valley is moreover marked by a number <strong>of</strong><br />
cupmarked rocks near Vex <strong>and</strong> Nax <strong>and</strong> further west, at Nendaz (18 in<br />
Fig. 58), there is a cupmarked rock with long grooves <strong>and</strong> possibly two<br />
incomplete rings. A long journey up the valley leads through rough<br />
terrain <strong>and</strong> only near Evolène (17 in Fig. 58) a small floodplain is<br />
reached, which stretches south for a few kilometres. At the valley<br />
floor, at 1380 m, there is (in the village <strong>of</strong> Evolène) a cup-<strong>and</strong>-groove<br />
stone, but the important group <strong>of</strong> petroglyphs is just east <strong>of</strong> the<br />
village, high up the mountain slope. <strong>The</strong><br />
two sites are completely invisible from<br />
each other because <strong>of</strong> an inaccessible<br />
high cliff. To reach the cup-<strong>and</strong>-ring site<br />
one has to follow the plain to the south<br />
<strong>and</strong> then climb the mountain northwards,<br />
although there is a steep path below Villa<br />
nowadays. Whatever route you will follow,<br />
it involves a hard climb. Minor cupmarked<br />
rocks may indicate the approach from the<br />
south; the one at Villa unfortunately has<br />
been destroyed recently. Ultimately one<br />
reaches the sites at Alp Cotter at an<br />
altitude <strong>of</strong> 1980 m. <strong>The</strong>re are nine<br />
FIG. 73: EVOLÉNE.<br />
cupmarked rocks close together at the<br />
M. <strong>van</strong> HOEK: 99<br />
GEOGRAPHY