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

dates to the end of the Mesolithic and is regarded to be the earliest
megalithic structure of the Atlantic seaboard at the moment.
Consequently, the cup-and-ring motif of Neolithic Europe may be much
older than generally accepted.
Another argument for an introduction of the ringmark later than the
cupule, is provided by the many instances where ringmarks clearly have
been added to existing cupules or even to natural holes (Van Hoek
1997c). Although it is highly probable that indeed natural rock
features initially inspired prehistoric people, the occurrence of a
natural depression could never have replaced the ritual of making the
mark and when people started to execute cupules during their
ceremonies, not only the resulting cupule will have been important, but
also the ritual act of making the symbol.
The salient point now is that, when the ringing tradition was
introduced, also natural depressions were accepted as substitutes for
cupules. The making of a cupule then no longer was a necessary part of
the ritual, but it remained an essential part of the symbol, although
later it diminished in size because of its declining importance. The
ringing tradition was clearly superimposed upon existing cupules. Then,
as time went by, the number of rings around a cupule increased and
ultimately impressive
sets of multiple rings
evolved (Fig. 120).
It is most likely that
these large sets of
multiple cup-and-rings
are later features.
Notably their complex
nature, with emphasis on
the ringmarks and the
decline of the central
cupule (most evident in
FIG. 120: GARGAMALA 4, GALICIA.
Fig. 120), is an argument
in favour of a later date of such multiple ring systems. It is rather
apocryphal to state that these complex motifs originated at the very
beginning of the ringing tradition; they must be later. Also their
impressive appearance and the fact that multiple concentric rings with
or without central cupule appear frequently in the art of the Irish
passage tombs, seems to indicate contemporaneity with the passage
tomb period. By this time, (concentric) ringmarks without a central
cupule also appear on the rocks (Fig. 127), especially in Galicia, but
also in Norway (for instance at Vinje 1, Fig. 115; and Fitja, Fig. 106).
During this period, people lavished considerable time and energy on the
execution of spectacular sites and petroglyphs at specific places, due
to a late but short-lived florescence which probably caused a strong
M. van HOEK: 154 GEOGRAPHY