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

important rock, No. 1, has more than 350
cupules but also features many grooves and,
relatively rare in the Alpine area, cupules
surrounded by one or two ringmarks (Fig. 79),
two with radial grooves (Haller 1989: 172).
When I visited the area in July 1997, I
noticed an unpublished rock decorated with
more than 50 cupules, some connected with
short grooves. I
numbered this rock,
uncovered by an
unknown researcher,
No. 6 (Fig. 80).
FIG. 79: ELVAS 1.
Nearby I uncovered
another much smaller
rock, No. 5, which
shows some deep cupules with short straight
grooves and a large number of small cupules in
rows, all heavily concentrated (Fig. 81).
Remarkably, both rocks are located directly
west of the narrow path (marked 1 in red on
Kompass map 56). Their location on a track
leading up to the other sites may be an echo
from the past, as it is often seen that
ceremonial paths in the prehistoric landscape
FIG. 80: ELVAS 6.
developed by executing rock symbols. These paths often continued to
be used in historical times. Therefore, also this path may be thousands
of years old !
The overall arrangement of the petroglyphic rocks near Elvas indeed
proves to have a strong linear character along ancient paths and, what
is more important, they all
overlook the Eisacktal to the
west, north and south at a
FIGURE 81: ELVAS 5.
point where the river takes a
turn to the north-west. This is
also the spot where it is joined
by a tributary from the northeast.
The fact that all sites
overlook the Eisacktal and not
the valley of the minor river
Rienz, indicates that at these crossroads the valley of the Eisack was
of major significance and needed the best protection. The side valley
was more or less ignored. But there is more !
A few kilometres to the south-west of Elvas on the other side of the
valley lies the Tschötscher Heide where several cupuled rocks are
M. van HOEK: 105
GEOGRAPHY