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

Cupules are often found together with random grooves but in Europe
the most characteristic groove-feature is the ringmark that surrounds
the cupule. The ring diameters range from 4 cm to 250 cm, but on
average they measure about 10 to 15 cm. Most common are cupules with
one ring, but there are two rare gigantic examples with 18 rings at
Monte Teton in Galicia, Spain (Fig. 44).
More rare are cup-and-rings in combination with rectangles, spirals,
triangles, keyholes grooves, solar representations and rosettes. Also
considered (in PART 2) are some special figurative petroglyphs which
appear occasionally associated with this circular art form (in Galicia
and the Alps), such as animals (for an example see Fig. 170) and boats
for an example see Fig. 144) and (mainly in Scandinavia) human figures
for an example see Fig. 149).
* 1.1.2.3 This brings me to delimit the subject geographically as
well. The easiest way to do this, is to take the old Iron Curtain through
Europe as the eastern limit, the Atlantic Ocean as the western limit
and the Mediterranean as the southern limit. Thus Scandinavia, the
British Isles, the Iberian peninsula and the central part formed by the
Alps are included as the most important rock art regions of Europe
(Fig. 183). In these regions a number of study areas have been
selected which offer specific material to analyse the geography of cupand-ring
art.
* 1.1.2.4 Finally it is necessary to restrict the geographical
subjects, especially for one reason. The positioning of petroglyphs in
the landscape will have been determined by both human and natural
factors, but unfortunately it is only possible to access the natural
rationales as there are no written or oral accounts of the motives of
the prehistoric people who executed these engravings. Their motives
will have to be derived from the geographical (and archaeological)
evidence. Although it is certain that most (if not all) petroglyph sites
are by no means selected haphazardly, the major goal is to see which
factors determined the placement, or rather, the selection of
petroglyphic rocks in the landscape.
As it is increasingly accepted that this specific type of rock art is
related to mobility of people (Bradley 1997, Van Hoek 1997), a number
of related subjects have been chosen. The major item of PART 1 is the
existence of routes across waterscapes and landscapes. Select
petroglyph sites prove to be more than often situated on or very near
major prehistoric routes leading to real (and possibly to supernatural)
territories or resources. In relation to this major item, view and
intervisibility and the existence of lines of concatenation concerning
cupules and cup-and-ring art will be discussed. The view from a site
greatly depends on the relief of the area and its altitude. If lines
from or formed by rock art sites indeed exist on a deliberate basis,
the placement of these sites will have been determined by the
M. van HOEK: 6
GEOGRAPHY