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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 prehistoric art found in the Atlantic seaboard of Europe (Ireland, Wales, Northern England, Scotland, France (), Portugal, and Spain – and in Mediterranean Europe – Italy (in Alpine valleys and Sardinia), Azerbaijan and Greece (Thessaly [citation ...
Petroglyphic in nature, the majority of such carvings are abstract in design, usually cup and ring marks, although examples of spirals or figurative depictions of weaponry are also known. Only one form of rock art in Europe, this late prehistoric tradition had connections with others along Atlantic Europe, particularly in Galicia.
The cup and ring marks are composed of two 'panels' with several hundred 'cup and ring' and other glyphs or carvings in a range of styles, ranging from single shallow cups through to deeper cups with multiple rings. Less common, but unique in the Scottish context are ‘square with cup’ carvings; ‘ringed stars’ are also present.
The associated motifs consist of cup-marks ( circular man-made depressions) often surrounded by one or more concentric rings that regularly feature an extending radial groove. Another common motif is the rosette motif which consists of a circular pattern of cup-marks. There is evidence for regional variation amongst this tradition.
Cup and ring marks are also common in the Fertile Crescent and India, and later in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Alpine regions of Europe, sometimes associated with complex petroglyphs or megalithic monuments. [1] [clarification needed]
The images are scratched a few millimetres into the stone. On account of the low relief, many images are difficult to make out. Only cup and ring marks have a depth of multiple centimetres. In brittle granite and gneiss, the edges are always broken, but the reason for this is not clear. As a rule it is not possible to determine whether images ...
Sketch by W. A. Donnelly (dated 1895) of the Cup & Ring marks on the Cochno Stone. Published by John Bruce in 1896 Detail sketched by James Harvey of Duntocher in 1889. The Cochno Stone is a large cup and ring marked rock at Auchnacraig, Faifley, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, [1] next to the Cochno farm. [2]
European petroglyphs: Laxe dos carballos in Campo Lameiro, Galicia, Spain (4th–2nd millennium BCE), depicting cup and ring marks and deer hunting scenes Petroglyph of a camel; Negev, southern Israel. Petroglyphs of the archaeological site of Las Labradas, situated on the coast of the municipality of San Ignacio (Mexican state of Sinaloa)