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

interfered with their observations. If menhir 8 were still present and
similarly arranged as menhir 3, it would align on the south circle at
Temple Wood and again on the same notch. Also menhirs 1 and 2 (the
former cupmarked on its northern face) align on that very notch. But
surprisingly I witnessed a fine Full Moon Rise on the 18 of July 1989 at
about 23.10 h. in exactly the opposite but unexpected direction
(azimuth 135°) looking along the south sides of the stones. This
moonrise was perfectly indicated by the menhirs, because they proved
to be somewhat tilted to the north. It is not known whether this
inclination is deliberate. It is said that this line also leads to
Duncraigaig cairn (Haddow, Hannay & Tait 1974) but this could not be
confirmed.
* 1.2.1.1.6 The same full moonrise was observed from Temple
Wood south stone circle a little earlier (about 22.50 h.) because of its
slightly higher altitude. The history of this small megalithic circle
(dating around 3500 BC) is
long and complex and has been
fully discussed by its
excavator Jack Scott (1989).
It proves that the art on one
of the megaliths represents
evidence of both early
disregard and later (renewed
?) respect.
On the northern, outer face of
the northernmost orthostat
sits a perfect, lightly pecked
triple spiral (Fig. 11) of about
40 cm in diameter. The triple
spiral has a close parallel in
the art associated with
passage tombs as it also
appears on a much smaller
mace-head found in a sealed
context in the east passage
tomb at Knowth, Ireland,
dating it to the Neolithic.
The slab may have been taken
from an other monument like
the earlier circle just north
FIG. 11: TEMPLE WOOD STONE CIRCLE. of the site but may equally
have been broken from a
decorated outcrop nearby. The stone may also have been decorated in
situ in the earlier circle or just before incorporating it into its
present structure. However, when the stone was used as part of the
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GEOGRAPHY