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

FIG. 9: THE ‘X’-SETTING,
NETHER LARGIE
FIG. 10. NETHER LARGIE CENTRAL MENHIR
menhir 7, but also on the line from
the “X” via menhirs 4, 3 and 2 (Fig. 8
framed area is Fig. 9). Moreover, a
line through menhirs 1 and 7 leads to
a Bronze Age cist exposed on the east
facing hill slope. The collinear slabs
at the northern end of the “X”,
menhirs 4 and 5 (the latter being
cupmarked on its southern face), are
not only aligned on menhir 6 but
simultaneously point to the Bronze
Age cairn at Duncraigaig, 950 m to
the SE. This must have been an
important line as it has the same
bearing (azimuth 330°-150°) as the
two-stone-row at Ballymeanoch and
occurs also at Dunamuck, further
south. These alignments prove that
Bronze Age burials have not been
haphazardly placed in the landscape.
Most monuments are inter-related
with Neolithic and other Bronze Age
monuments in a carefully constructed
ritual landscape.
* 1.2.1.1.5.2 Also remarkable
are the lunar alignments from the
“X”. The line indicated by menhirs 4, 3 and 2 not only runs through
Kilmartin church and the Ri Cruin cairn but also indicates a Major
Standstill Moonset in a notch on a hill about 7 km to the SSW (Brown
1976: 198; Wood 1978: 109). The south side of menhir 3, facing this
moonset, is cupmarked (Fig. 10) but it is the
flat northern face which is aligned on the
earlier, abandoned north circle at Temple
Wood, simultaneously indicating the
Moonset at the Major Standstill in a notch
on the hill beyond the circle. If the
petroglyphs would indeed have been
executed by the people who erected the
stone as an astronomical backsight it would
have been appropriate if they had also
decorated the more suitable flat northern
side, which they used for their
observations. The carvings would never have
M. van HOEK: 16
GEOGRAPHY