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

Vigo and the peninsula of Morrazo beyond. An outcrop rock at lower
level with eleven single cupules is also located in a remarkably secluded
position. These examples seem to indicate that wide views of the sea
were avoided on purpose or at least not favoured.
Another remarkable situation occurs at Monte Teton (Fig. 43) where
two major sites occur (No. 1 and 4). Each of these sites has one
example of a cup-and-ring with the biggest number of concentric rings
of Europe, notably eighteen. The example at site 1 measures 2.50
metres (Fig. 44) and the
extremely weathered example
at site 4 measures almost 3.50
metres.
The description by Costas
(1991: 90) may give the
impression that these two
sites are intervisible, but it
seems as if this has been
avoided on purpose. Site 1 has
its main view to the south,
FIG. 44: MONTE TETON I.
overlooking the valley of the Rio Miño
and Portugal beyond. Although the
views to the north are blocked by the
hill, the ridge on which site 4 is
located is visible, but not the
decorated outcrop. But surprisingly
the view from site 4 towards site 1 is
completely blocked by a rocky ridge of
about 3 m high, directly SE of site 4.
Therefore, site 4 has its main view to
the west and overlooks an important
pass (Fig. 45).
It is clear that in Galicia petroglyph
sites are not connected by lines of
intervisibility, although in many
instances this easily could have been
achieved.
A similar situation occurs at the
Pedra da Chula, which is the
northernmost group of the Muros FIG. 45: MONTE TETON IV.
peninsula. It is situated on the edge
of an escarpment which steeply dips to the east (Fig. 46). Despite its
high position, views are surprisingly limited; only to the south there
are wide views that include a small part of the Ria de Muros and even a
M. van HOEK: 64 GEOGRAPHY