Editing Cup and ring mark

{{short description|Form of prehistoric art}}
{{redirect|Cup mark|a carved depression alone|Rock cupule}}
[[File:Cup and ring marks.jpg|thumb|Typical cup and ring marks at Weetwood Moor, in the English county of [[Northumberland]] ([http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=55.54754N+1.99632W&spn=0.020343,0.028783&hl=en Google Maps])]]
'''Cup and ring marks''' or '''cup marks''' are a form of [[prehistoric art]] found in the Atlantic seaboard of Europe (Ireland, Wales, [[Northern England]], Scotland, France ([[Brittany]]), Portugal, and Spain ([[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]]) – and in Mediterranean Europe – Italy (in Alpine valleys and Sardinia), Azerbaijan and Greece ([[Thessaly]]{{citation needed|date=October 2018}} and [[Irakleia (Cyclades)]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=22675 |title=Irakleia spiral shaped Petroglyph 4 - Rock Art in Greece in Greek Islands |date=2014-07-08 |access-date=2022-11-04}}</ref>), as well as in [[Scandinavia]] (Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland){{citation needed|date=October 2018}} and in Switzerland (at Caschenna in [[Canton of Grisons|Grisons]]). 

Similar forms are also found throughout the world including [[Australia]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://debandrandall.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/east-mcdonnel-ranges.html|title=East McDonnel Ranges|website=debandrandall.blogspot.co.uk|date=July 2010|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref> [[Gabon]], [[Greece]], [[Hawaii]],<ref name="Alpert - Anthropologie-Moravian Museum">{{cite journal |last1=Alpert |first1=Barbara Olins |title=Cupoles, Circles and Mandalas |journal=Anthropologie |date=1962 |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=171–178 |jstor=26295871 }}</ref> [[India]] ([[Bhanpura#Daraki-Chattan Cave survey Bhanpura|Daraki-Chattan]] and [[Dwarahat]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.rockartscandinavia.com/images/articles/a19india.pdf |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=www.rockartscandinavia.com}}</ref>), [[Israel]], [[Mexico]], [[Mozambique]]<ref>{{cite book | title = Prehistoric Man and his story | url = https://archive.org/details/prehistoricmana00elligoog | last = Francis Scott Elliot | first = George | year=1915 | publisher = Seeley, Service | page = 398}}</ref> and [[the Americas]].<ref name="Pica-Callahan">{{cite book |last1=Callahan |first1=Kevin L. |title="Pica, Geophagy and Rock Art in the Eastern United States" in The Rock-Art of Eastern North America: Capturing Images and Insight |date=2004 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=9780817350963 |pages=65–74 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vM2Z5OB438MC&q=Kevin+L.+Callahan+cupmark&pg=PA66 |access-date=20 February 2020}}</ref><ref name="Ferg - Kiva">{{cite journal |last1=Ferg |first1=Alan |title=The Petroglyphs of Tumamoc Hill |journal=Kiva - the Tumamoc Hill Survey: An Intensive Study of a Cerro de Trincheras in Tucson, Arizona |date=1979 |volume=45 |issue=1/2 |pages=95–118 |jstor=30247666 }}</ref>  The oldest known forms are found from the [[Fertile Crescent]] to [[India]].

They consist of a [[wikt:concave|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 [[wikt:Special:Search/gutter|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 [[megalith]]s such as the slab [[cist]]s of the [[Food Vessel culture]], some [[stone circle]]s and [[passage grave]]s such as the [[clava tomb]]s and on the [[Coping (architecture)|capstones]] at [[Newgrange]].

==Canaan==

[[File:Cupandring.png|thumb| "...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,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Marchant|first=Jo|date=25 November 2009|title=Deep Secrets: Atlit-Yam, Israel|journal=New Scientist|publisher=Reed Business Information Ltd.|issue=2736|pages=40, 41|issn=0262-4079|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427361.400-atlityam-israel.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jpost.com/Local-Israel/Around-Israel/Israels-Atlantis |title=Israel's Atlantis |date=21 May 2009 |website=The Jerusalem Post |access-date=4 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.antiquities.org.il/article_eng.aspx?sec_id=14&subj_id=139 |title=The Pre-Pottery Neolithic Site of Atlit-Yam |website=Israel Antiquities Authority|access-date=2022-11-04}}</ref> 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&nbsp;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 [[dolmen]]s 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1164&mag_id=115 |title=Shamir |website=Hadashot Arkheologiyot, Excavations and Surveys in Israel|access-date=2022-07-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/Dolmens.html#Location|title=Dolmens - prehistoric megalith tombs|website=www.biblewalks.com|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref>

The cup marks are still present in other proto-[[Canaan]]ite sites as recently as the [[Chalcolithic]] Age, for example at several sites in and around modern-day [[Modiin]] dated to the fourth millennium BCE<ref>{{cite journal|last=van den Brink|first=Edwin|title=Modi'in, Horbat Hadat and Be'erit (A)|journal=Hadashot Arkheologiyot|date=2 Dec 2007|volume=119|url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/Report_Detail_Eng.aspx?id=484&mag_id=112}}</ref> and the third millennium BCE,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.modiin.muni.il/ModiinWebSite/ArticlePage.aspx?PageID=305_200|title=עיריית מודיעין מכבים רעות, גבעת התיתורה|website=www.modiin.muni.il|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref> and in the [[City of David (historic)#Chalcolithic .284500.E2.80.933500 BCE.29|City of David, Old Jerusalem]]. [[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;<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mitchell|first=Eric |author2=Jason M. Zan |author3=Cameron S. Coyle |author4=Adam R. Dodd|title=Tel Gezer, Regional Survey|journal=Hadashot Arkheologiyot|date=31 Dec 2012|volume=124|url=http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=2192}}</ref> however, excavations at Gezer are ongoing as of 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.telgezer.com|title=Home - Tel Gezer Project|website=www.telgezer.com|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref>

==Italy==
[[File:Novalesa cup-and-rings stone Italy.jpg|thumb|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 in Valcamonica|rock drawings]]. Regarding western alps ([[Piedmont]]), the best known are distributed along the Chisone,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rupestre.net/western_alps_records/chisone_crodalairi.htm|title=Western Alps rock art records|website=www.rupestre.net|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref> Susa<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rupestre.net/archiv/ar6.htm|title=Archivio Online - arte rupestre ed etnografia delle Alpi piemontesi (a cura del Gruppo Ricerche Cultura Montana)|website=www.rupestre.net|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref> and Viù valleys; also the La Bessa<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bessa.it/E%20massi%20incisi.htm|title=Rock art and cup marks of Bessa<!-- Bot generated title -->|website=bessa.it|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref> site is to be cited.
Strictly referring to cup-and-rings, it is possible to cite in the western Alps only the Novalesa stone,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rupestre.net/archiv/ar9.htm|title=Archivio Online - arte rupestre ed etnografia delle Alpi piemontesi (a cura del Gruppo Ricerche Cultura Montana)|website=www.rupestre.net|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref><ref>[http://www.rupestre.net/tracce/?p=2877 A rock record in the western Alps, TRACCE Online Rock Art Bulletin 12, 2000]</ref> 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.
[[File:Sardinia mamoiada perda pinta.jpg|thumb|Sardinia mamoiada perda pinta]]
Sardinia is rich in cup-and-rings stones. The best known is the {{lang|it|Perda Pintà}} (the 'painted stone', which is carved, not painted) or Stele di Boeli,<ref>[[:it:Stele di Boeli]]</ref> at Mamoiada: an impressive [[stele]] or [[menhir]] {{convert|2.67|m}} high with various concentric circles patterns crossed by engraved channels and central cup-marks.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rupestre.net/tracce/?p=4530 |title=The strange case of snow-circles and cup-and-rings |date=24 April 2012 |website=rupestre.net |access-date=23 March 2018 }}</ref>

==Spain==
Similar patterns are known in [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/11655/1/1995_Proceedings%20Prehistoric%20Society%2061_BradleyCriadoFabregas_Rock%20art%20Galicia.pdf|title=R. Bradley et al., Rock art and the prehistoric Landscape of Galicia...|website=csic.es|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref> 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 [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]] and the [[British Isles]], manifesting, together with other cultural expressions like [[megalith]]s or [[Atlantic Bronze Age|Bronze Age culture]], a cultural link along the coasts of [[Atlantic Europe]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_092/92_071_084.pdf|title=M. Stewart, Strath Tay in the Second Millennium BC. A Field Survey.|website=ahds.ac.uk|access-date=23 March 2018|archive-date=11 June 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611233922/http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/PSAS_2002/pdf/vol_092/92_071_084.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==United Kingdom==
[[Image:Cupandring.JPG|thumb|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 [[Hunterheugh Crags]] cup and ring marks near [[Alnwick]] in [[Northumberland]] have recently been demonstrated to date back into the [[Early Neolithic]] era through their [[stratigraphy|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.
[[Alexander Thom]] suggested in a [[BBC]] [[television]] documentary, ''Cracking the Stone Age Code'', in 1970, "I have an idea, entirely nebulous at the moment, that the cup and ring markings were a method of recording, of writing, and that they may indicate, once we can read them, what a particular stone was for. We have seen the cup and ring markings on the stone at [[Kilmartin Glen|Temple Wood]], and that's on the main stone but we can't interpret them ...yet."<ref name="The Spectator">{{cite book|title=The Spectator, p. 608|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oBw-AQAAIAAJ|access-date=28 April 2011|year=1970}}</ref> He created diagrams and carried out analysis of over 50 of the cup and ring markings from which he determined a length he termed the [[Megalithic Yard|Megalithic Inch]] (MI).<ref>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</ref>

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."<ref name="Ruggles2003">{{cite book|author=Alan Davis in Clive Ruggles|title=Records in Stone: Papers in Memory of Alexander Thom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oZ3JGYd1kJoC&pg=PA422|access-date=30 April 2011|date=13 February 2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-53130-6|pages=392–422}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Ruggles2003"/>

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.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=MacKie|first1=E. W.|last2=Davis|first2=A.|title=New light on neolithic rock carvings: the petroglyphs at Greenland (Auchentorlie), Dunbartonshire|journal=Glasgow Archaeological Journal|date=1989|volume=15|issue=15|pages=125–155|doi=10.3366/gas.1988.15.15.125|doi-access=}}</ref>

== Sites ==
Sites with cup and ring marks include:
{{div col}}
*[[Ecclesall]] Wood, Sheffield, South Yorkshire
*[[Baildon]] Moor, Bradford, West Yorkshire
*Chatton Sandyford [[cairn]] and Fowberry petroglyphs in [[Northumberland]]
*[[Rombalds Moor]] including [[Ilkley Moor]]
*[[Gardom's Edge]] in [[Derbyshire]]
*Bachwen [[portal dolmen]] in [[Gwynedd]]
*[[Anderton, Lancashire#Prehistoric history|Anderton]], [[Lancashire]]
*Dalladies [[long barrow]], [[Kincardineshire]]
*Street House cairn in [[Cleveland, England|Cleveland]]
*[[Dalgarven Mill]], North Ayrshire
*[[Ballochmyle cup and ring marks]], [[Mauchline]], [[East Ayrshire]]
*[[Brodick]], [[Isle of Arran]]
*Blackshaw Hill, North Ayrshire
*[[Kilmartin]], [[Argyll]]
*[[Tomnaverie stone circle]], [[Aberdeenshire]]
*Balblair, [[Beauly]], nr. [[Inverness]]
*Tongue Croft, near [[Borgue, Dumfries and Galloway|Borgue]], Dumfries and Galloway
*Kilpatrick Hills Strathclyde
*[[Kilpatrick Hills]]
*Clava Cairns, [[Culloden, Highland|Culloden]]
*Craigmaddie Muir by the Alud Wives Lifts near [[Milngavie]]
*Reyfad Stones ([[Reyfad]]), [[Boho, County Fermanagh]]
*[[Eston#Eston Hills|Eston Hills]], [[Redcar and Cleveland|Cleveland]]
*[[Weetwood Moor]], Northumberland
*Lordenshaws,  Northumberland
*[[Long Meg and Her Daughters]], Cumbria
*[[Great Langdale]], Cumbria
*[[Grasmere (village)|Grasmere]], Cumbria
*Dun Borve, Isle of Harris, Western Isles
*Juniper Green, Edinburgh, Scotland
*[[Simonside Hills|Simonside]], Rothbury, Northumberland
{{div col end}}

==Ireland==
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. Another particularly rich source of cup-marked boulders is the Derrynablaha townland on the [[Iveragh peninsula]] in [[County Kerry]].<ref>{{cite book |last=De Breffny |first=Brian |author-link= |date=1983 |title=Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopedia |url= |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson |page=74 |isbn=}}</ref>

==Switzerland (Grisons)==
[[File:Switzerland Carschenna concentric circles and cupmarks.jpg|thumb|Switzerland Carschenna concentric circles and cupmarks]]
An open air rock art site in the Swiss Alps is situated at [[:de:Carschenna|Carschenna]], Rethic Alps (in [[Canton of Grisons|Grisons]], Switzerland), where Latin derived languages mingle with German. The first engraved rocks were discovered in 1965,<ref>ZINDEL C., 1970. ''Incisioni rupestri a Carschenna'', in Valcamonica Symposium, 1968, pp. 135-142, Capo di Ponte.</ref> during the building of an iron electricity framework. Carschenna engravings<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rupestre.net/alps/carsch_concentr.html|title=Rock Art in the Alps – The engraved rocks of Carschenna|website=www.rupestre.net|access-date=23 March 2018}}</ref> 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==
<gallery>
Image:Laxe das Rodas 01.jpg|Galicia, where hundreds of stations are known.
Image:Touron petr.JPG|Deer and cup-and-ring motifs, Tourón, Ponte Caldelas, Galicia.
Image:Petróglifo de Portaxes, Monte Tetón, Tomiño.jpg|Cup-and-ring mark at Monte Tetón, Tomiño, the largest one in Galicia
Image:Cup and ring petroglyph, island of Hawaii.jpg|Cup and ring petroglyph in lava rock, island of Hawaii, US
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Bullaun]]
* Cup-marks<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rivett-Carnac |first=JH |date=1903 |title=Cup-marks as an archaic form of inscription |journal=Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland Journal |series=New Series |doi=10.1017/S0035869X0003077X }}</ref>
* [[Cupstone]]s
* [[Goldbusch]]
* [[Great dolmen of Dwasieden]]
* [[Dalgarven Mill]]
* [[European Megalithic Culture]]
* [[Petroglyph]]
* [[Petrosomatoglyph]]
* [[Prehistoric art]]
* [[Rock Drawings in Valcamonica]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*[[Stan Beckensall|Beckensall, Stan]] and Laurie, Tim. 1998. ''Prehistoric Rock Art of County Durham, Swaledale and Wensleydale. County Durham Books.'' {{ISBN|1-897585-45-4}}
*Beckensall, Stan. 2001. ''Prehistoric Rock Art in Northumberland.'' Tempus Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7524-1945-5}}
*Beckensall, Stan. 2002. ''Prehistoric Rock Art in Cumbria.'' Tempus Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7524-2526-9}}
*Butter, Rachel. 1999. ''Kilmartin.'' Kilmartin House Trust. {{ISBN|0-9533674-0-1}}
*Hadingham, Evan. 1974. ''Ancient Carvings in Britain; A Mystery.'' Garnstone Press. {{ISBN|0-85511-391-X}}
*Morris, Ronald W.B. 1977. ''The Prehistoric Rock Art of Argyll.'' Dolphin Press. {{ISBN|0-85642-043-3}}
*Papanikolaou Stelios. ''600 Written Rocks. Channels of primeval knowledge'' Larissa <<ella>> Second Revised Edition 2005 {{ISBN|960-8439-21-3}}
*Schwegler Urs, ''Die Felszeichnungen von Carschenna, Gemeinde Sils im Domleschg'', Helvetia Archaeologica, Bd. 28, Heft 111/112, 1997, {{ISSN|0018-0173}}, S. 76–126.

==External links==
{{commons category|Cup marks}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060422083316/http://rockartuk.fotopic.net/ British Rock Art Collection]
*[http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/era/ Era – England's Rock Art] (Currently only covers Northumberland and County Durham)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050628074128/http://rockart.ncl.ac.uk/ Rockart – Web Access to Rock Art: the Beckensall Archive of Northumberland Rock Art – University of Newcastle upon Tyne]
*[http://montetecla.blogspot.com/ El Laberinto Atlántico - Galician Rock Art]
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/chronicle/8604.shtml BBC Archive - Chronicle | Cracking the Stone Age Code]
*[http://www.rupestre.net/tracce/?p=4530 The strange case of snow-circles and cup-and-rings]

{{Prehistoric technology| state=expanded}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cup And Ring Mark}}
[[Category:Megalithic symbols]]
[[Category:Rock art]]
[[Category:Prehistoric art]]
[[Category:History of Northumberland]]
[[Category:Neolithic]]