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

When a lot of effort is involved to reach the end of a line of rock art
and there is no direct clue to be found in the landscape, the selection
of especially these places certainly must have had an important reason.
It seems that geographical “dead end” strings mainly developed as
minor linear clusters deviating from the major travelling route. But
again, what was the reason to deviate from the main route and to
execute strings of rock art that apparently led nowhere special and
that often ended at hard to reach places ? If geography fails to
explain the siting of rock art, then religion may provide the answers.
One most obvious “layer” of the explanation may be that the rock art
symbols themselves were important. These engravings may have been
regarded as entrances and exits to or contact-spots with the spirit
world, executed in order to protect (migrating) groups from above.
Simultaneously a ritual path may have developed. In this way geography
combined with religion may explain the siting of the art.
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FIG. 188:
THE ISLE OF BUTE
AND THE
ENTRANCE TO
LOCH FYNE.
LEFT: THE ENTRANCE TO LOCH FYNE;
BELOW: ISLE OF BUTE, SCOTLAND.
M. van HOEK: 230
GEOGRAPHY