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

APPENDIX 1
AN INVENTORY OF THE ROCK ART GROUPS AT GARGAMALA
INTRODUCTION
Before 1989 there was only one rock art site known to exist in the parish of
Gargamala, situated north of Mondariz. It was located on the “Monte do
Castro” and comprised simple engravings only (COSTAS GOBERNA & NOVOA
ALVAREZ 1993: 132). After that date fieldwork by Fernando Javier COSTAS
GOBERNA, Pablo NOVOA ALVAREZ and Jose Maria ALBO MORAN revealed a
large number of rock art panels in an area to the NE of the “Castro”
including many complex designs. Their results have been published in a very
useful paper “Los grabados rupestres de Gargamala (Mondariz) y el Group IV
del Monte Teton en Tebra (Tomiño) provincia de Pontevedra” (1991) in which
they described the panels known as Groups 1 to 14.
In the summer of 1998 I was able to survey the interesting rock art sites at
Gargamala. Favoured by the fine weather and by the fact that the area was
set on fire, probably one or two years ago, the three of us were able to
locate all the known sites at Gargamala. At that occasion, however, we
noticed new petroglyphs at several known sites (at Groups 2, 4, 7, 10 and 11)
and found new panels with engravings which I have numbered for this paper
7G, 7H, 7I, 7J, 11A, 15 and 19. As the morning light would be better for
photography, I returned the next morning and discovered more engravings
and numbered them 7A, 7B, 7F, 7K, 7L, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26,
27, 28, 29 and 30. On a rocky hill slope, some 500 metres to the SE of the
main group I found three new rock art sites: Groups 31, 32 and 33, bringing
the grand total to 47 rock art panels. All these new finds justify a revision
of the Gargamala complex. The resulting paper is intended to present an update
of the engravings together with a discussion of this interesting group.
THE INVENTORY
It is always important to avoid confusion and double entries in any inventory
and therefore the original numbering by COSTAS GOBERNA, NOVOA
ALVAREZ and ALBO MORAN (1991) has been maintained and extended. In
some cases I decided to add letters to existing sites. The map with the
numbering (Fig. 51), will show, together with the description and sketch by
COSTAS GOBERNA, NOVOA ALVAREZ and ALBO MORAN (1991), where the
several panels are located. It must be kept in mind, however, that distances
and locations on my distribution maps are only approximated.
I distinguish three areas with rock art panels: ZONE A: the main
concentration (Groups I to 30); ZONE B: an isolated panel (Group 14) some
600 m to the north of area A; and ZONE C: a small group some 500 m SE of
the main area with three rock art panels (Groups 31, 32 and 33). There are
many undecorated rocks in ZONES A and C, many showing faint traces of
doubtful engravings as well as distinct quarrying marks. These are not
discussed here.
M. van HOEK: 81
GEOGRAPHY