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

and it seems that cup-and-ring sites were not created to serve as
intervisible “stepping stones” through the interior. The great majority
of them are too inconspicuous and therefore difficult to locate in the
landscape, especially for strangers (as explained for the Laxe do
Carrizo).
And yet, cup-and-ring sites do form strings in the landscape. There now
are two levels on which strings of rock art occur in the landscape. On
macro level, these strings clearly connect areas, like the rock art sites
in the Kilmartin area link the west coast of Scotland with the interior.
On micro level however, “strings of rings” often lead to no place
special, at least not according to our modern-minded observations. The
difference between these two possibilities may be illustrated by the
rock art groups at Derrynablaha and Coomasaharn in Kerry, Ireland.
Derrynablaha is found near an important pass connecting the south and
north coast of the Iveragh
peninsula. Coomasaharn on the
other hand is a cluster of rock
art sites leading from the
north coast of the Iveragh
peninsula to an accumulation of
rock art sites near a glacial
lake in the mountains; a
beautiful area, but definitely
offering no through route: it
truly is a geographical “dead
end”. Other examples of such
geographical “dead end” strings
are found in Galloway (Van
Hoek 1995) and on the Isle of
Bute, but they can also be
compared with the strings of
rock art sites in the Tayside
area, such as Tombuie and
Edramucky.
To us, such geographical “dead
end” strings end abruptly with
no apparent cause. Especially in
Galloway the landscape near
these “dead ends” is rather
featureless (Fig. 187). In
Tayside, however, the view is
magnificent, 0but to reach the
upper end of the rock art, a
FIG. 187: KNOCK, GALLOWAY.
strenuous climb is involved.
M. van HOEK: 229
GEOGRAPHY