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

The best way to achieve and maintain this consensus is to travel the
whole area intensively and as it becomes more and more accepted that
prehistoric peoples were able to cross the open oceans even tens of
thousands years ago (Bednarik 1996), it must also be accepted that
there would have been no problem for Neolithic seafarers to migrate
between the British Isles, Galicia and Scandinavia and vice versa.
Having accepted this view, it still remains remarkable that the art is
found so heavily concentrated in only three areas. It proves that in
Europe especially the areas with much indented coastlines are by far
the most favourite places for the execution of cupules and cup-andrings.
Especially the southern rias of Galicia are marked by numerous
rock art concentrations; but why is cup-and-ring art lacking on its
northern shores ? We also noticed many important cup-and-ring
concentrations in and near the estuaries of Ireland and Scotland; but
why is there no rock art at several most suitable places in north-west
Scotland ? Finally we noticed the more modest cup-and-ring groups in
the fjords of Scandinavia; but again, why no cup-and-ring art for
instance around the Oslo fjord ?
The questions may be answered as follows. If the culture of peoples of
the New Stone Age was indeed strongly stone-related, it is possible
that areas lacking stone surfaces were avoided on purpose, because in
those areas it was not possible to perform their specific culturerelated
rituals necessary to propitiate the spirit world or to socialise
the new land. “Newly arrived colonists would notably have as a priority
the need to make a new and unfamiliar land familiar by constructing
oral accounts of their arrival and journeys as well as by populating the
new land with spiritual beings, events, places and visual cultural marks”
(Ouzman et al 1997: 6; emphasis mine). Rock art is one of the easiest
and quickest ways to create such visual and enduring cultural marks.
Yet, there are many areas (in the same region as the cup-and-ring
concentrations, on and near the suggested migratory routes, as well as
and elsewhere) with suitable rock surfaces that clearly have been
ignored. Often Neolithic remains are found in these areas, but no rock
art tradition developed. We have noticed this in the Dolomites area of
the Alps, but also in many areas in Ireland and Britain.
Therefore, the siting of cup-and-ring art especially at these coastal
areas may confirm the concept of overseas travelling, exploration and
interaction in accordance with their culture, but simultaneously implies
that (often unknown) decision-making processes were at work. These
processes will greatly have been determined by the general cultural
contents of the group. But also the personal conceptions and liking of
the individual traveller, as well as the (personal) decisions of the
leader(s) of the group will have been important. Even the factor of
chance cannot be ruled out completely. Added to this largely
M. van HOEK: 225
GEOGRAPHY