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

For the rest, combinations of cup-and-rings and animals are very rare
in the Alps. I only know of one other example, Les Lozes, where a
soldier only seemingly aims his lance at a solitary cup-and-one-ring with
a groove, shown below in Fig. 171 (only part of the scene illustrated).
� CONCLUSIONS �
Having considered the known examples in Europe of cup-and-rings that
have been possibly “re-sanctified” by adding iconic (animal and human)
engravings, there proves to be only little geographic congruency
between these two art forms. Especially the almost total absence of
iconic engravings in the British Isles, the area with the largest
concentration of cup-and-rings in
Europe and located between Galicia
and Scandinavia, is most striking.
The only certain combination of
animals (possibly from the Iron
Age) and late (?) Neolithic cup-andrings
is found at the most lavishly
decorated rock surface of the
British Isles, at Ballochmyle (Fig.
172; Fig. 129 and Fig. 156.5).
Anthropomorphic engravings even
seem to be completely absent in the
FIG. 172: BALLOCHMYLE.
British Isles. This enhances the
idea that the Galician animal-engravings and the Swedish “disc-men”
constitute regional developments, occasionally superimposed upon or
added to the pan-European cup-and-ring tradition.
Chronologically most post-glacial animal and human engravings on open
air rock surfaces in Europe are of a much later date than the cup-andrings
(see the graphs in Fig. 156). Just possibly however, some Galician
animals are partially contemporary with late cup-and-rings. During a
short time the two traditions may have intermingled, yielding some fine
instances of “re-sanctification”. After that, the practice of engraving
circular motifs petered out, whereas in Galicia animal symbolism
continued for some time.
M. van HOEK: 209
GEOGRAPHY