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

have been such a quarry. The type of engraving there is similar and the
parallel cracks in the rock facilitated the quarrying of such lintels, as
can be seen in the photograph (Fig. 80).
But other cupules in the cloisters are later; some are even recently
executed and are still being
deepened by religious visitors. This
is a practice seen at many Christian
sanctuaries like the cupules on the
kerbs around the cathedral of
FIG. 83: SEVILLE, SPAIN.
Seville, Spain (Fig. 83), and the many
instances at holy pilgrimage sites in
Ireland. There is little difference
between these practices and the old
rituals of the prehistoric peoples,
propitiating their gods by knocking on the stone membrane between the
everyday world and the supernatural realm.
* 1.4.2.2 Many sites in the Alps are found at really high
altitudes and this presents a marked difference with the cup-and-ring
regions along the Atlantic Seaboard. This difference does not only
concern the absolute height of Alpine sites, but also their elevation in
relation to the lowest possible level locally. Carschenna (1 on Fig. 58)
is situated at 1100 m and the valley floor it overlooks is at 650 m;
Tinizong (2) is at 1680 m and the river below flows at 1170 m; Evolène
is at 1980 m and the valley floor is at 1380 m. Such big relative
differences in height do not exist anywhere along the Atlantic
seaboard; not even in Norway, where such differences would be
possible.
The situation at Sprons (12 on Fig. 58 and 76), an important rock art
group west of Elvas and just NW of the town of Merano in the
Etschtal, is even more
dramatic. Situated at
2126 m, a small saddle
between two steep
mountain ridges, called
Giogo di Vizze or
Pfitschersattel, houses
at least 22 rocks close
together, with more
than 600 cupmarks. To
reach this extremely
isolated site, a steep
climb of roughly 1750
FIGURE 84: SPRONS, SECTION.
m from the valley floor
(at 400 m) had to be
M. van HOEK: 107
GEOGRAPHY