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

* 2.1.2 THE BRITISH ISLES *
Contrary to the wide spread of simple cupules and, to a lesser extent,
of cupules with one or two rings in the British isles, stands the very
limited distribution of cupules with five or more rings (Fig. 124). In
the whole archipelago are found 219 cupules with five or more rings (3
% of all cupules with rings in these isles) and, most significantly, 95 %
of all these examples occur almost exclusively on major routes through
these isles. There notably exists a remarkable concentration around
the northern part of the Irish Sea, where 50 % of all examples are
found. About 19 examples (framed at Fig. 124) are found incorporated
into Irish passage graves; some of which are located relatively far
inland. Both facts may indicate the later nature of these complex sets.
In general, most Irish cup-and-rings are found in coastal areas (except
for the inland site at Boho), whereas Britain seems to have traversed
at its narrowest parts in the north by two belts of cup-and-ring art
(compare Sweden). These belts may indicate that two major axes of
migration of the cup-and-ring tradition seem to have developed in this
archipelago; two routes combining the urge to explore suitable areas
and the search for easy through routes. There even may be
distinguished an “earlier” and a “later” route, although it is unknown
how much they are chronologically apart.
The ‘older’ route (Fig. 124) via the west coast of Ireland (using Kerry,
the Boheh stone in Mayo, and Donegal as stepping stones) only features
cupules with a maximum of six rings. Moreover, only one certain sixring
occurs on this route (at Kealduff), and one more doubtful example
(at Derrynablaha), both in Kerry. The ‘earlier’ route continued via
Argyll on the west coast of Scotland; where a major landing area (the
Kilmartin valley, discussed in
Chapter 1.2.1) formed the gateway
towards Tayside (Chapter 1.2.2)
and the rest of eastern Scotland.
Significantly, only two examples of
five-rings occur in the Tayside
region (at Urlar; Fig. 19 for
location and Fig. 21 for an
illustration), whereas the Kilmartin
FIG. 125: CASTLETON. valley has 28 examples of cupules
with five to eight rings. It is
important to note that of these 28 examples, 23 are found on the 10
km string forming the east route through Mid Argyll (Fig. 14), which is
regarded by me as a later route. The occurrence of especially complex
art on the east route through Mid Argyll, but also the presence of
cupules with nine rings at Greenland and Castleton (Fig. 125), both at
M. van HOEK: 159 GEOGRAPHY