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

icecap first caused the land to sink deeply into the earth and
simultaneously glaciers carved out deep troughs that extended even
under sea level, simultaneously polishing the rocks. Especially at the
Norwegian west coast this process created a distinctively indented
shoreline characterised by the steepness of the valley walls, the great
depth and the great inland extent.
Later, when the icecaps melted world wide, the sea level rose and such
troughs became water filled and turned into the well known fjords,
often providing splendid natural harbours. More importantly, also the
land rose to a higher level because of the isostatic uplift as a result of
the loss of weight consequent upon the melting of the icecap of the
last Ice Age. It is estimated that in Scandinavia this relative uplift
amounts approximately 100 m (Coles 1990: 7). As a result, prehistoric
coastlines are found at high altitudes nowadays.
In general one can therefore state that the oldest rock art only occurs
at higher level, whereas younger motifs are also found at much lower
levels. The fact, however, that younger engravings can also be found on
higher levels, presents a problem. Indeed, the general distinction in
height proved to be not really helpful in particularly separating cupand-ring
motifs chronologically from the Bronze Age iconic figures. In
most cases cup-and-rings are too closely associated with the figures of
the Bronze Age. Especially in Bohuslän, Sweden, both types of rock art
are often found intermingled at the same level.
Still, there are indications that the Scandinavian cup-and-ring motifs
may be older than the Bronze Age. It notably is reasonable to suggest
that Bronze Age rock art manufacturers were attracted to the
previously executed cupules and cup-and-rings from the Neolithic
period, even when lower surfaces were already available. The main
question is now whether the surfaces used by the Bronze Age people
were also available during the Neolithic. This proves to be the case in
many situations. In Norway the major cup-and-ring sites near Etne all
are located higher than 75 m, at a level certainly accessible for
Neolithic people. But in Sweden the situation is more complex.
An example may illustrate this. The engravings of the Vitlycke area,
Bohuslän, are found roughly between the 15 m and the 35 m contours;
the majority centred at about 25 – 30 m. The graph at Fig. 92 roughly
shows when a certain altitude became dry land, offering two scenarios.
It proves that all engravings lower than 35 m cannot be older than
4300 BC in case of a rapid fall of the prehistoric sea level, and not
older than 3000 BC in case of a slow fall. Even in the worst case
scenario, the area between 25 m and 35 m was already available for
engravings from 2400 BC and onwards; in the more favourable situation
already by 3700 BC. This proves that at least late Neolithic people
could have used the smooth granite outcrops on the prehistoric
coastline of Bohuslän as canvasses for their rock art. Outcrop panels
M. van HOEK: 120
GEOGRAPHY