Google Earth Community: Cup And Rings

in 1990, Mr K Bowman and a Mr K Waldron discovered four cup-marked stones in a field clearance heap to the south of Crosswood Reservoir. One stone has double spirals, and a cup-mark with emanating chips and pecked edges. A further cup and ring-marked stone was found on top of the clearance heap. The local shepherd indicated that the stones had been put there some 15 years earlier when the field was ploughed.

Image source: British Rock Art Collection

Rock Art / Petroglyphs

Cup and ring marks or cup marks are a form of prehistoric art found predominantly in the upland parts of the British Isles but also in some parts of continental Europe.

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 petroglyph on natural boulders and outcrops and also as an element of megalithic art on purposely worked megaliths.

Precisely dating megalithic art is difficult as even if the megalithic monument can be dated, the art may be a later addition. Work at Drumirril in County Monaghan has uncovered Neolithic and early Bronze Age occupation evidence around the rock carvings there and this dating is generally accepted for most of the art.

Where they are etched onto natural, flat stone it has been observed that they seem to incorporate the natural surface of the rock.

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.

Photo removed for copyright reasons

References:
http://www.rcahms.gov.uk
http://www.themodernantiquarian.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_and_ring_mark

Edited by Noisette (07/11/08 04:56 AM)