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

1950 ± 110 BC (HAR-3071), dating it to the Early Bronze Age
(Beckensall 1983: 176). As cupules are of all ages, this specific
cupmarked stone may indeed contemporary to the henge (but also
earlier or later, as the execution of the cupule was not dated), but this
single example does not offer any evidence that the whole body of rock
art in this region is contemporary to the henges.
There are three things that only seemingly link the henges with the
petroglyphs. Both features are circular of character; both occur
roughly in the same area (although henges have a more westerly
orientation) and thirdly, some of the petroglyph sites indeed overlook
the basin. But it does not mean that the initial distribution of the rock
art near the Milfield Basin is actually related to the henges in the
area. We have already seen that most of the art overlooks the valley of
the Till in between the two sandstone ridges (Fig. 31) and not the
Milfield Basin. It proves that the two features are geographically and
geomorphologic separated and therefore possibly culturally and
temporally as well.
* 1.2.3.3.3.2 There may be another explanation for the
concentration of rock art near this basin. It is notably a fact that the
Milfield Basin once was a large glacial lake because of a morainic dam
near Etal (the approximate extent of the lake is shown in Fig. 34). The
exact date of the draining of the lake is not known, but it is possible
that the people of the cupule (or later the cup-and-ring) manufacturers
arrived in the area when the basin was still a lake or possibly a marsh.
This recalls the situation at the Kilmartin valley (Chapter 1.2.1) where
a marshy area is lined with rock art, but only at two of the three sides.
A similar situation occurs at the Milfield Basin: there is no rock art on
the south and west side of the basin. A possible explanation may be
that exposed rock is rather scarce in these upland areas. The presence
of granites and lavas as types of stone too hard to carve, is hardly an
argument, as most engravings in Galicia and the Canary Isles
(PowerPoint SLIDES 1) are on granite and lavas respectively.
Most of the circular art can safely be dated to the Neolithic and
possibly is older than the passage tomb art. Most henges in Britain
date however from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age and
contemporaneity with the art is therefore highly unlikely.
* 1.2.3.3.3.3 I must conclude that the art focussed more on
the valley of the Till and avoided the basin, rather than it is related to
the monuments in the Milfield Basin. The art already had been
executed and routes had already been established long before the
henge monuments were laid out in the Milfield Basin.
A similar conclusion was reached for the Kilmartin valley in Scotland:
also in that area monuments and rock art are not contemporary. This
conclusion seems to be confirmed by the striking absence of open-air
petroglyphs in the direct neighbourhood of other important
M. van HOEK: 54 GEOGRAPHY