Cup and ring mark

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Cup mark" redirects here. For a carved depression alone, see Rock cupule.
Typical cup and ring marks at Weetwood Moor, in the English county of Northumberland (Google Maps)

Cup and ring marks or cup marks are a form of

Grisons
).

Similar forms are also found throughout the world including

the Americas.[5][6] The oldest known forms are found from the Fertile Crescent to India
.

They consist of a concave depression, no more than a few centimetres across, pecked into a rock surface and often surrounded by concentric circles also etched into the stone. Sometimes a linear channel called a gutter leads out from the middle. The decoration occurs as a

clava tombs and on the capstones at Newgrange
.

Canaan

"...and on a projecting boss of rock close by is the only "cup and ring" mark I have seen in Palestine."

The site of Atlit Yam, abandoned circa 6300 BCE and now under Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast south of Haifa, features cup marks engraved into megalithic stones, some of which are set upright to form a semi-circle which has been referred to as resembling the UK's Stonehenge but smaller,[7][8][9] with ceremonially buried bodies at the site, and potential alignments to the solstice, and/or to other stars, still being hypothesized as the site was only discovered in 2009 and undersea sites are difficult and expensive to explore. Further inland, dating to at least 3000 BCE (exposed) and estimated up to 4000 BCE (unexcavated layer, under the layer which is exposed), is Rujm el-Hiri, a cairn (tumulus) type of megalith, consisting of concentric circles (as cup marks also are concentric circles, but much smaller than Rogem Hiri) estimated to contain 40,000,000 kg of stones moved by humans, with an opening in the outer circle which aligns to the summer solstice (just as sites throughout Eurasia also align to solstices) and which has a burial chamber in the center, with thousands of dolmens nearby, a "dolmen" being a 3rd and younger type of megalith found elsewhere in Eurasia, the oldest of which, thus far, are found in the UK, but date only to the 3rd millennium BCE in Israel.[10][11]

The cup marks are still present in other proto-

Tel Gezer has more up-ended megaliths dating to only 1550 BCE which are aligned to Earth's north and south physical poles, but Tel Gezer's cupmarks have only recently been surveyed (2012) and do not appear to have been dated (as to whether they were made before, concurrent to or after the 1550 BCE megaliths) yet;[14] however, excavations at Gezer are ongoing as of 2014.[15]

Italy

Novalesa cup-and-rings stone Italy

Numerous cup-marked stones have been found in the alpine valleys, comprising Val Camonica (Italy), associated with rock drawings. Regarding western alps (Piedmont), the best known are distributed along the Chisone,[16] Susa[17] and Viù valleys; also the La Bessa[18] site is to be cited. Strictly referring to cup-and-rings, it is possible to cite in the western Alps only the Novalesa stone,[19][20] in the Cenischia Valley, near the Italian-French border. Found in 1988, it shows 4 concentric circles, with a central cup-mark; all around a network of 20 cup-marks and channels.

Sardinia mamoiada perda pinta

Sardinia is rich in cup-and-rings stones. The best known is the Perda Pintà (the 'painted stone', which is carved, not painted) or Stele di Boeli,[21] at Mamoiada: an impressive stele or menhir 2.67 metres (8 ft 9 in) high with various concentric circles patterns crossed by engraved channels and central cup-marks.[22]

Spain

Similar patterns are known in Galicia,[23] which has given them the name of 'Galician style'. These types, the cup-and-ring, cup-and-ring with gutter and the gapped concentric circles motifs are shared between this part of Iberia and the British Isles, manifesting, together with other cultural expressions like megaliths or Bronze Age culture, a cultural link along the coasts of Atlantic Europe.[24]

United Kingdom

A replica of an unusual cup-and-ring-marked stone from Museum of Ayrshire Country Life and Costume, Dalgarven, North Ayrshire, Scotland.

Precisely dating megalithic art is difficult: even if the megalithic monument can be dated, the art may be a later addition. The

Early Neolithic era through their stratigraphic relationship with other, datable features. Some cup marks have been found in Iron Age
contexts but these may represent re-used stones.

Where they are etched onto natural, flat stone it has been observed that they seem to incorporate the natural surface of the rock. Those at Hunterheugh are mostly connected to one another by gutters that can channel rainwater from one to the next, down the sloping top of the stone. It has been suggested by

archaeologist Clive Waddington
that the initial Early Neolithic impetus to create the marks was forgotten and that the practice fell into abeyance until a second phase of creation continued the basic tradition but with less precision and more variability in design. The markers of this second phase moved the art from natural stones to megaliths as its symbolism was reinterpreted by Later Neolithic and Early Bronze Age people.

Their purpose is unknown although some may be connected with natural stone outcrops exploited by Neolithic peoples to make polished stone axes. A religious purpose has been suggested.

Megalithic Inch (MI).[26]

This whole idea has been ignored almost completely apart from a critical analysis carried out by Alan Davis in the 1980s, who tested Thom's hypothesis on cup and ring sites in England by examining the separations of neighbouring cupmark centres. He found some weak evidence for the "Megalithic Inch" but it was not statistically significant, and he suggested "strongest indications...towards the use of a quantum close in value to 5 MI at certain sites" and that "the apparent quantum seems strongly associated with ringed cups."[27] Davis made an initial effort to build on Thom's start, and to answer the question he posed: "Why should a man spend hours – or rather days – cutting cups in a random fashion on a rock? It would indeed be a breakthrough if someone could crack the code of the cups."[27]

Subsequently, Davis investigated the idea that the prehistoric carvers used an elementary method of diameter-construction in laying out the carvings. This investigation (incorporating both Scottish and English sites) suggested a possible explanation for many of the characteristic shapes of carved rings, and also produced evidence in the ring diameters for the use of a unit of measurement close to Thom's MI (and 5 MI) that was of high statistical significance. The evidence is consistent with the use of rough measures such as hand- and finger-widths (rather than the formal, accurate system proposed by Thom), but the important conclusion is that a similar design ritual, apparently involving a consistent measurement system of some kind, was in use over a wide geographical area.[28]

Sites

Sites with cup and ring marks include:

Ireland

Work at

Iveragh peninsula in County Kerry
.

Switzerland (Grisons)

Switzerland Carschenna concentric circles and cupmarks

An open air rock art site in the Swiss Alps is situated at

Grisons, Switzerland), where Latin derived languages mingle with German. The first engraved rocks were discovered in 1965,[29] during the building of an iron electricity framework. Carschenna engravings[30]
are mainly characterized by cup-marks with from 1 to 9 concentric circles. Spirals, sun-like figures, riding scenes, and schematic horses are also present.

Gallery

  • Galicia, where hundreds of stations are known.
    Galicia, where hundreds of stations are known.
  • Deer and cup-and-ring motifs, Tourón, Ponte Caldelas, Galicia.
    Deer and cup-and-ring motifs, Tourón, Ponte Caldelas, Galicia.
  • Cup-and-ring mark at Monte Tetón, Tomiño, the largest one in Galicia
    Cup-and-ring mark at Monte Tetón, Tomiño, the largest one in Galicia
  • Cup and ring petroglyph in lava rock, island of Hawaii, US
    Cup and ring petroglyph in lava rock, island of Hawaii, US

See also

References

  1. ^ "Irakleia spiral shaped Petroglyph 4 - Rock Art in Greece in Greek Islands". 2014-07-08. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  2. ^ "East McDonnel Ranges". debandrandall.blogspot.co.uk. July 2010. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  3. JSTOR 26295871
    .
  4. ^ Francis Scott Elliot, George (1915). Prehistoric Man and his story. Seeley, Service. p. 398.
  5. ISBN 9780817350963
    . Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  6. JSTOR 30247666
    .
  7. ISSN 0262-4079
    .
  8. ^ "Israel's Atlantis". The Jerusalem Post. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  9. ^ "The Pre-Pottery Neolithic Site of Atlit-Yam". Israel Antiquities Authority. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  10. ^ "Shamir". Hadashot Arkheologiyot, Excavations and Surveys in Israel. Retrieved 2022-07-09.
  11. ^ "Dolmens - prehistoric megalith tombs". www.biblewalks.com. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  12. ^ van den Brink, Edwin (2 Dec 2007). "Modi'in, Horbat Hadat and Be'erit (A)". Hadashot Arkheologiyot. 119.
  13. ^ "עיריית מודיעין מכבים רעות, גבעת התיתורה". www.modiin.muni.il. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  14. ^ Mitchell, Eric; Jason M. Zan; Cameron S. Coyle; Adam R. Dodd (31 Dec 2012). "Tel Gezer, Regional Survey". Hadashot Arkheologiyot. 124.
  15. ^ "Home - Tel Gezer Project". www.telgezer.com. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  16. ^ "Western Alps rock art records". www.rupestre.net. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  17. ^ "Archivio Online - arte rupestre ed etnografia delle Alpi piemontesi (a cura del Gruppo Ricerche Cultura Montana)". www.rupestre.net. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  18. ^ "Rock art and cup marks of Bessa". bessa.it. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  19. ^ "Archivio Online - arte rupestre ed etnografia delle Alpi piemontesi (a cura del Gruppo Ricerche Cultura Montana)". www.rupestre.net. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  20. ^ A rock record in the western Alps, TRACCE Online Rock Art Bulletin 12, 2000
  21. ^ it:Stele di Boeli
  22. ^ "The strange case of snow-circles and cup-and-rings". rupestre.net. 24 April 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  23. ^ "R. Bradley et al., Rock art and the prehistoric Landscape of Galicia..." (PDF). csic.es. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  24. ^ "M. Stewart, Strath Tay in the Second Millennium BC. A Field Survey" (PDF). ahds.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  25. ^ The Spectator, p. 608. 1970. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  26. ^ Systematics: The Journal of the Institute for the comparative study of History, Philosophy and the Sciences, Vol. 6, Number 3, Coombe Spring Press., December 1968
  27. ^
    ISBN 978-0-521-53130-6
    . Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  28. doi:10.3366/gas.1988.15.15.125
    .
  29. ^ ZINDEL C., 1970. Incisioni rupestri a Carschenna, in Valcamonica Symposium, 1968, pp. 135-142, Capo di Ponte.
  30. ^ "Rock Art in the Alps – The engraved rocks of Carschenna". www.rupestre.net. Retrieved 23 March 2018.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cup marks.
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