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

* 2.1.3 GALICIA *
Unfortunately, the exact number of cup-and-rings is unknown for
Galicia, but the total can be estimated to be around 1500. Each year
however, new finds add to the grand total of known Galician cup-andrings.
One of the important recent discoveries is the group at
Sabaxáns, just east of Gargamala. On an enormous outcrop of granite, a
large number of multiple cup-and-rings have been uncovered; among
them also an (unknown) number of cupules with five or more rings. One
fine cupule with seven concentric rings (included in this survey) shows
a central cupule with one ring surrounded by an area with extremely
faint rings and an outer area of deeply carved rings (Fig. 185). This
may point to a temporary stop in the cup-and-ring tradition and a
renewed practice of adding ringmarks in order to create impressive
multiple ring systems. We will discuss this possible practice at other
sites in Galicia; instances occur at Lombo da Costa (Fig. 134) and
perhaps Gargamala (Fig. 56).
As at least 109 examples (roughly 7.5 %) have five or more rings (Fig.
123), it proves that in Galicia multiple ring systems are relatively more
frequent. Whereas the distribution of cups with five or more rings in
the British Isles and Scandinavia is mainly a coastal matter, in Galicia
the location of such motifs proves to be more a feature of the
interior, as only one third of these motifs (38 examples) is found
within ten kilometres of the coast (Fig. 130). The recent discovery of a
major inland cup-and-ring site at O Gorguillon (Fig. 185) just east of
Gargamala confirms this pattern as well.
Also in Galicia there are two main axes of rock art distribution
concerning the spread of multiple rings. The northern group, featuring
the greatest numbers,
starts around the
estuary of Pontevedra,
where we find examples
at Poio, Marin (Mogor)
and Pontevedra (Fig.
130), and following the
Rio Lerez further east,
an major concentration
around Campo Lameiro is
FIG. 131: ANTAS DE ULLA.
reached. Possibly this
axis continued towards Valga and ultimately to the recently discovered
concentration near Antas de Ulla (Fig. 131). The maximum number of
concentric rings on this axis is ten (Fig. 130; graph of the northern
group), but it proves that (apart from cupules with one to four rings)
cupules with five or six rings predominate. Just possibly, this group is
older.
M. van HOEK: 163 GEOGRAPHY