12pointer
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Theories on 'cup and ring marks'
Feb 27, 2008, 14:22
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I'm looking for different theories on what the 'cup and ring marks' mean.
i refuse to believe they represent the circle of life, or whatever...
Cairnbaan in Scotland, for instance looks more like a star chart.
What about, that they represent tree rings, i.e. numbers, or recording a chieftans years of rule by carving them into an eternal forest record in rock...
Do you think that in the 'cups' there used to be something? a quartz pebble? and the rings show its Aura at full moon.
Someone said to me they are found around gold and copper deposits, ancient geological markers?
Anyone else got some theories? I want to crack this mystery!
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Seph
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Re: Theories on 'cup and ring marks'
Mar 12, 2008, 07:21
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These things make me scratch my head too! I heard tell from someone I was visiting over in Kilmartin - that a local fellow thought it was some type of language. I can't remember the name of the professor who suggested that - apologies. Could be the measuring of something in the sky. Then again it could be something so simple and so obvious that it is easy to miss or dismiss.
Keep me posted though! What are more of your theories?
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StoneGloves
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Re: Theories on 'cup and ring marks'
Mar 12, 2008, 07:34
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Star map - doesn't work. Near to precious (in the cultural sense) metal deposits - well that's also where they lived like we used to live near coal mines. Tree rings - very neglected, as is the study of prehistoric joinery (all the old bits were burnt so there's hardly any remaining. What about the ripples in a still pool symbolising the life experience? Something neglected totally by modern day researchers is their measurement. They seem to be laid out in something called a Megalithic Inch - also called the Acupuncture Unit of Measurement (AUM). Nobody knows, really, but why are the Megalithic Inches suppressed? It's not as if joiners wouldn't measure things then - just as they do now.
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Rhiannon
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Re: Theories on 'cup and ring marks'
Mar 12, 2008, 13:42
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There was a great article on the internet by Kevin L Callahan, but the links dont' seem to work any more, which is a great shame. He is / was an anthropologist at the university of Minnesota, and the article was comparing different rock art round the world, I think.
-So that's a pretty pointless posting Rhiannon. But the itself name might help?
There's so many extremely knowledgeable rock art people here that I'm loathe to say anything but I personally like the idea it's all to do with trance states and images people see when they're in them. That's just my twopenn'orth though (I guess lots of theories of all sorts of things reflect the theorist more than the truth).
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tiompan
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Re: Theories on 'cup and ring marks'
Mar 12, 2008, 13:49
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Rhiannon wrote: There was a great article on the internet by Kevin L Callahan, but the links dont' seem to work any more, which is a great shame. He is / was an anthropologist at the university of Minnesota, and the article was comparing different rock art round the world, I think.
-So that's a pretty pointless posting Rhiannon. But the itself name might help?
There's so many extremely knowledgeable rock art people here that I'm loathe to say anything but I personally like the idea it's all to do with trance states and images people see when they're in them. That's just my twopenn'orth though (I guess lots of theories of all sorts of things reflect the theorist more than the truth).
Dead right Rhiannon , Kevin wrote a lot of good stuff , pity it's gone .I have wondered what happened to him .
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Rhiannon
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Re: Theories on 'cup and ring marks'
Mar 12, 2008, 14:11
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He doesn't seem to be at Minnesota any more, Tiompan, judging from their website. Perhaps he's gone off to do some 'participant observation' and is living with a remote community somewhere, chipping away at the rocks. All the same, you'd think he'd still be on their books. Hmm
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Hob
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Edited Mar 12, 2008, 14:43
Re: Theories on 'cup and ring marks'
Mar 12, 2008, 14:42
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I missed this thread when it was posted, ta for bumping it Stonelifter.
Rhiannon wrote: There's so many extremely knowledgeable rock art people here that I'm loathe to say anything
And the best thing is, no matter how much any of them know about RA, no-one really has much of an idea what the carvings actually mean :)
That's a large part of the appeal, just like the stone circles and stuff.
Now that 3 stages of trance theory. We could debate that for a while. Wasn't there a mention of it in the thread about Gyrus' book?
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Hob
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Re: Theories on 'cup and ring marks'
Mar 12, 2008, 14:46
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Always worth flagging up this nice old page:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5579/folklore.html
Scroll down aways to find Morris' list of 100 theories.
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Hob
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Edited Mar 12, 2008, 14:53
Re: Theories on 'cup and ring marks'
Mar 12, 2008, 14:48
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Piddle.
That link doesn't work now does it. Which is odd, cos it just appeared on my screen, but then when I refreshed, just a snotty message from geocities. I can't believe my work machine has cached the page for so long. Or is it geocities being gits?
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StoneGloves
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Re: Theories on 'cup and ring marks'
Mar 12, 2008, 15:07
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Living with a remote community, chipping away at the rocks - eh! - that's me that is. And I've just bought a lovely 1962 Swedish army jacket to do it in (ot)!
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