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

FIGURE. 123: STATISTICS OF EUROPEAN CUP-AND-RING MOTIFS.
TO THE LEFT ARE TWO GRAPHS SHOWING THE ABSOLUTE NUMBERS OF
CUP-AND-RING MOTIFS AND THE RESULTING TOTAL OF RINGMARKS.
STATISTICS FOR GALICIA ARE NOT AVAILABLE AND THE NUMBERS OF
CUPULES WITH FIVE OR MORE RINGS HAVE BEEN ESTIMATED FROM
SEVERAL SOURCES; NO DOUBT THERE WILL BE SOME MORE EXAMPLES.
There may exist more than 10.000 cup-and-ring motifs in Europe, but
only about 350 examples have five or more rings (Fig. 123). Second,
their distribution in Europe is remarkably limited and especially this
limited occurrence in the landscape may provide a clue as to their
specific meaning. It is notably important that all surveys of the
European cup-and-ring regions confirmed that cupules with five or more
rings mainly occur at the more important places, often true key areas.
In general it can also safely be stated that the more concentric rings
there are around a cupule and the more multiple cup-and-rings occur on
a petroglyphic site, the more important the spot or area must have
been for prehistoric peoples. This was, for instance, evident at the
rock art site at Elvas 1, the only place on a long route where
concentric rings around a cupule are found (Fig. 79).
I will investigate this idea further by establishing the location of
especially cupules with five or more rings in the Alpine region, the
British Isles, Galicia and Scandinavia and then to draw general
conclusions.
M. van HOEK: 156 GEOGRAPHY