Chapter V: Cup Sculptures

The simplest form of rock inscription is almost ubiquitous. In Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Oceanica, shallow, round, cup-like depressions are found, sometimes in rows, sometimes singly, sometimes surrounded by a ring or rings, but often quite plain. The cup-markers often arranged their sculpturings in regularly spaced rows, not infrequently surrounding them with one or more clearly cut rings; sometimes, again, they associated them with concentric circles or spirals. Occasionally the sculptors demonstrated the artificial character of their work by carving it in spots beyond the reach of atmospheric influences, such as the interiors of stone cists or of dwellings. It must, however, be noted that, although there is thus established a distinction between those markings which are natural and those which are artificial, it is possible that there may have been some distant connection between the two, and that the depressions worn by wind and rain may have suggested the idea of the devices, now called cup-markings, to those who first sculptured them.

Vast numbers of these cup stones are found in the British islands, often connected with other petroglyphs. In the county of Northumberland alone there are 53 stones charged with 350 sculptures, among which are many cup depressions. So also in Germany, France, Denmark, and indeed everywhere in Europe, but these forms took their greatest development in India.

The leading work relating to this kind of sculpture is that of Prof. J. Y. Simpson (_a_), afterward known as Sir James Simpson, who reduces the forms of the cup sculptures to seven elementary types, here reproduced in Fig. 147. His classification is as follows:

First type. _Single cups._--They are the simplest type of these
ancient stone-cuttings. Their diameter varies from 1 inch to 3
inches and more, while they are often only half an inch deep, but
rarely deeper than an inch or an inch and a half. They commonly
appear in different sizes on the same stone or rock, and although
they sometimes form the only sculptures on a surface they are
more frequently associated with figures of a different character.
They are in general scattered without order over the surface, but
occasionally four or five or more of them are placed in more or less
regular groups, exhibiting a constellation-like arrangement.

Second type. _Cups surrounded by a single ring._--The incised
rings are usually much shallower than the cups and mostly surround
cups of comparatively large size. The ring is either complete or
broken, and in the latter case it is often traversed by a radial
groove which runs from the central cup through and even beyond the
ring.

Third type. _Cups surrounded by a series of concentric complete
rings._--In this complete annular form the central cup is generally
more deeply cut than the surrounding rings, but not always.

Fourth type. _Cups surrounded by a series of concentric, but
incomplete rings having a straight radial groove._--This type
constitutes perhaps the most common form of the circular carvings.
The rings generally touch the radial line at both extremities, but
sometimes they terminate on each side of it without touching it.
The radial groove occasionally extends considerably beyond the
outer circle, and in most cases it runs in a more or less downward
direction on the stone or rock. Sometimes it runs on and unites into
a common line with other ducts or grooves coming from other circles,
till thus several series of concentric rings are conjoined into a
larger or smaller cluster, united together by the extension of their
radial branch-like grooves.

Fifth type. _Cups surrounded by concentric rings and flexed
lines._--The number of inclosing or concentric rings is generally
fewer in this type than in the two last preceding types, and seldom
exceeds two or three in number.

Sixth type. _Concentric rings without a central cup._--In many
cases the concentric rings of the types already described appear
without a central cup or depression, which is most frequently
wanting in the complete concentric circles of the third type.

Seventh type. _Concentric circular lines of the form of a spiral
or volute._--The central beginning of the spiral line is usually,
but not always, marked by a cup-like excavation.

It often occurs that two, three, or more of these various types are found on the same stone or rock, a fact indicating that they are intimately allied to each other.

Prof. Simpson presents what he calls “the chief deviations from the principal types” reproduced here as Fig. 148.

The first four designs represent cups connected by grooves, which is a noticeable and frequently occurring feature. In Fig. 149 views of sculptured rock surfaces at Auchnabreach, Argyleshire, Scotland, are given. Simple cups, cups surrounded by one ring or by concentric rings, with radial grooves and spirals, appear here promiscuously mingled. Fig. 150 exhibits isolated as well as connected cups, a cup surrounded by a ring, and concentric rings with radial grooves, on a standing stone (menhir), belonging to a group of seven at Ballymenach, in the parish of Kilmichael-Glassary, in Argyleshire, Scotland.

Dr. Berthold Seeman remarks concerning the characters in Fig. 105, supra, copied from a rock in Chiriqui, Panama, that he discovers in it a great resemblance to those of Northumberland, Scotland, and other parts of Great Britain. He says, as quoted by Dr. Rau (_d_):

It is singular that, thousands of miles away, in a remote corner
of tropical America, we should find the concentric rings and several
other characters typically identical with those engraved on the
British rocks.

The characters in Chiriqui are, like those of Great Britain,
incised on large stones, the surface of which has not previously
undergone any smoothing process. The incised stones occur in a
district of Veraguas (Chiriqui or Alanje), which is now thinly
inhabited, but which, judging from the numerous tombs, was once
densely peopled.

From information received during my two visits to Chiriqui and
from what has been published since I first drew attention to this
subject, I am led to believe that there are a great many inscribed
rocks in that district. But I myself have seen only one, the now
famous _piedra pintal_ (i. e., painted stone), which is found on
a plain at Caldera, a few leagues from the town of David. It is
15 feet high, nearly 50 feet in circumference, and rather flat on
the top. Every part, especially the eastern side, is covered with
incised characters about an inch or half an inch deep. The first
figure on the left hand side represents a radiant sun, followed
by a series of heads or what appear to be heads, all with some
variation. It is these heads, particularly the appendages (perhaps
intended for hair?), which show a certain resemblance to one of the
most curious characters found on the British rocks, and calling to
mind the so-called “Ogham characters.” These “heads” are succeeded
by scorpion-like or branched and other fantastic figures. The top
of the stone and the other sides are covered with a great number of
concentric rings and ovals, crossed by lines. It is especially these
which bear so striking a resemblance to the Northumbrian characters.

Fig. 151 presents five selected characters from the rock mentioned: _a_ attached to the respective numbers always refers to the Chiriqui and _b_ to the British type of the several designs; 1_a_ and 1_b_ represent radiant suns; 2_a_ and 2_b_ show several grooves, radiating from an outer arch, resembling, as Dr. Seeman thinks, the Ogham characters; 3_a_ and 3_b_ show the completely closed concentric circles; 4_a_ and 4_b_ show how the various characters are connected by lines; 5_a_ and 5_b_ exhibit the groove or outlet of the circle.

Mr. G. H. Kinahan, in Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1889, p. 171, gives an account of Barnes’s Inscribed Dallâus, County Donegal, Ireland. One of his figures bears four cups joined together by lines forming a cross. The remainder of the illustrations consist of concentric rings and cups resembling others already figured in this paper.

Marcano (_c_) describes Fig. 152 as follows:

The chain of Cuchivero, situated in Venezuela between the
Orinoco and the Caura, shows on its flanks small plateaus on which
are numerous stones which seem to have been aligned. This chain is
separated by a deep valley from that of Tiramuto, from which were
copied the petroglyphs here presented. The one represents a single
sun, the other two suns joined together. The rays of the former
run from one circumference to the other. The other two are joined
together by a central stroke, and the rays all start from the outer
circumference.

The same author (loc. cit.) thus describes Fig. 153:

These designs, taken on the little hills of the high Cuchivero,
differ altogether from the preceding. _a_ is a very regular
horizontal grouping. It begins by a spiral joined to three figures
similar among themselves, and similar also to the eyes of jaguars
which we have often met with. There follows a sort of isolated
fret; at its right is another, larger and joined to a circle
different from the preceding; it has a central point, and the second
circumference is interrupted. The figure terminates in a spiral like
the one at the beginning of the line, and which, being turned in the
opposite direction, serves as its pendant.

_b_ is formed of two horizontal rows one above the other. We
there find first of all two frets united by a vertical stroke ending
in a hook. The characters which follow, resembling those of _a_, are
distinct in each row, but on closer inspection they are seen to have
a peculiar correspondence.

Dr. Ladisláu Netto (_b_) gives copies of carvings on the rocks in Brazil on the banks of the Rio Negro, from Moura to the city of Manaus, and remarks upon the characters reproduced here as Fig. 154, that they represent the figure of the multiple concentric circles joined together two by two, as were found on several other rocks in the same region, and as they appear in many inscriptions of Central America and at various points of North America.

Senhor Araripe (_b_) gives the following account:

In Banabuiu, Brazil, about three-quarters of a league from
the plantation of Caza-nova, on the road to Castelo, is a stone
resting upon another, at the height of a man, which the inhabitants
call Pedra-furada (pierced stone) having on its western face the
inscription in Fig. 155.

The characters have been much effaced by the rubbing of cattle
against them; the stone has also cracked. Some fragments lying at
the foot of it bear on their upper faces round holes made by a sharp
tool, and resembling those shown in this figure.

Cup stones, called by the French _pierres à ecuelles_ and _pierres à cupules_ and by the Germans _Schalensteine_, are found throughout Hindustan, on the banks of the Indus, at the foot of the Himalayas, in the valley of Cashmere, and on the many cromlechs around Nagpoor. At this very day one may see the Hindu women carrying the water of the Ganges all the way to the mountains of the Punjab, to pour into the cupules and thus obtain from the divinity the boon of motherhood earnestly desired.

The cup sculptures often become imposing by their number and combination. In the Kamaon mountains there are numerous blocks that support small basins. One of them is mentioned as being 13 feet in length by 9 in breadth and 7 in height, and showing five rows of cupules. At Chandeswar (see Fig. 146) the rocks themselves are covered with these signs. They present two different types. One of the most frequent groups shows a simple round cavity; in the others, the cupels are encircled by a sort of ring carved in intaglio and encircling figures. One of these figures recalls the swastika, the sacred sign of the Aryans. The present Hindus are absolutely ignorant of the origin of these sculptures; they are fain to attribute them to the Goalas, a mysterious race of shepherd kings who preceded the great invasions which imprinted an indelible stamp on the Indies as well as on Europe. These cupels are correlated with the worship of Mahadeo, one of the many names given to Siva, the third god of the Hindu triad, whose emblem is the serpent. Chandeswar is reached through a narrow gorge; at the entrance is found a temple sacred to Mahadeo. The columns and slabs bear cupules similar to those seen on the rocks.

Some of the Mahadeo designs engraved on stone slabs in this temple (see Rivett-Carnac, loc. cit.) are represented in Fig. 156, showing a marked resemblance to and approaching identity with this class of cuttings on bowlders, rocks, and megalithic monuments in Europe.

A large number of stones with typical cup markings have been found in the United States of America. Some of those illustrated in this paper are presented in Pl. V, and Figs. 19 and 48.

Among the many attempts, all hitherto unsatisfactory, to explain the significance of the cup stones as distributed over nearly all parts of the earth, one statement of Mr. Rivett-Carnac (_b_) is of value as furnishing the meaning now attached to them in India. He says:

Having seen sketches and notes on rock sculptures in India which
closely resemble unexplained rock carvings in Scotland, and having
myself found one of the Scotch forms cut on a bowlder in Kángrá, *
* * being at Ayodhyá with a Hindu who speaks good English, I got a
fakir and drew on the sand of the Gogra the figure . I asked what that meant. The fakir at once
answered, “Mahadeo.” I then drew and got the same answer. At Delhi my old
acquaintance, Mr. Shaw, told me that these two signs are chalked on
stones in Kángrá by people marching in marriage processions. The
meaning given to these two symbols now in India is familiarly known
to the people.

Mahadeo, more accurately Mahadiva, is the god of generation. He is worshiped by the Sawas, one of the numerous Hindu sects, under the form of a phallus, often represented by a simple column, which sometimes is placed on the yoni or female organ. It is suggested that in a common form of the sculptures the inner circle represents the Mahadeo or lingam, and the outer or containing circle the yoni. No idea of obscenity occurs from this representation to the Hindus, who adore under this form the generative power in nature.

Prof. Douglas, in the Saturday Review, November 24, 1883, furnishes some remarks on the topic now considered:

In Palestine and the country beyond Jordan some of the marks
found are so large that it has been supposed that they may have
been used as small presses of wine, or as mortars for pounding the
gleanings of wheat. But there is an objection to these theories
as accounting for the marks generally, which is fatal to them. To
serve these purposes the rocks on which the marks occur should be
in a horizontal position, whereas in a majority of cases all over
the world the “cups” are found either on shelving rocks or on the
sides of perpendicular stones. This renders worthless also the ideas
which have at different times been put forward that they may have
been used for some sort of gambling game, or as sun-dials. A Swiss
archæologist who has lately devoted himself to the question believes
that he has recognized, in the sculpturings under his observation,
maps of the surrounding districts, the “cups” indicating the
mountain peaks. In the same way others have thought that similar
markings may have been intended as maps or plans pointing out the
direction and character of old circular camps and cities in their
neighborhood. But if any such resemblances have been discovered
they can hardly be other than fortuitous, since it is difficult to
understand how rows of cup marks, arranged at regular intervals
and in large numbers, could have served as representatives either
of the natural features of a country or of camps and cities. But a
closer resemblance may be found in them as maps if we suppose that
they were intended to represent things in the heavens rather than
on earth. The round cup-like marks are reasonably suggestive of
the sun, moon, and stars, and if only an occasional figure could
be found representing a constellation, some color might be held
to be given to the idea; but unfortunately this is not the case.
Nevertheless the shape of the marks has led many to believe that
they are relics of the ancient sun worship of Phœnicia, and that
their existence in Europe is due to the desire of the Phœnician
colonists to convert our forefathers to their faith. But there are
many reasons for regarding this theory, though supported by the
authority of Prof. Nilsson, as untenable. The observations of late
years have brought to light cup marks and megalithic circles in
parts of Europe on which a Phœnician foot never trod; and it is a
curious circumstance that in those portions of the British Isles
most frequented by these indefatigable traders there are fewer
traces of these monuments than in the northern and inland districts,
which were comparatively inaccessible to them.

The Swiss archæologist mentioned above by Prof. Douglas is Fritz Roediger (_a_), of whose theory the following is a translated abstract:

What renders the deciphering of these sign stones exceedingly
difficult (I purposely avoid the words “map stones” because not
all are such) is their great variety in size, position, material,
workmanship, and meaning. I will here speak of the latter only,
inasmuch as there are stones which in their smallest and their
largest form are yet frequently nothing else than boundary stones,
whose origin can often not be definitely established as prehistoric,
while on the other hand again we discover well-marked boundary
stones, which at the same time show the outline of the piece of
ground which they guard. Similarly we find prehistoric (Gallic)
“Leuk” stones, differing from the meter-high communal and state
boundary stones of modern times in nothing but this, that they
have some indistinct grooves and one or two hooks, while on the
other hand we meet “Leuk” stones, which on their restricted heads,
often also on the side walls, indicate their environs for (Leuk)
miles around, up, down, and sidewise, while a third class of this
form merely adorn crossroads, and indicate deviations by means of
lines and points (waranden). Thus we find quite extensive slabs
or structures that signify only some hectares, often only one,
while we meet very small ones, or, at any rate, of moderate size,
which, one man can move, that represent very large districts, some
presenting only lines and grooves, others with shells of various
sizes, a third kind with both kinds of ornaments and samples of
ornaments, and again others with no sign at all, but yet respected
as stones of special meaning by the population, and called “hot
stone,” “pointed stone,” “heath stone,” “child’s stone,” etc. Other
stones have basin-like or platter-like depressions, and finally
there are outcropping rocks with marks of one kind or another,
holes, rents, clefts, etc. A further great difficulty hampering the
deciphering of these wonderful stones is the lack of opportunities
for comparison and experience. I have been markedly favored in this
respect by my sojourn and wanderings in valley, mountain and alp.
Western Switzerland is a very paradise for investigations of this
kind, especially the lake country and the upper part of the canton
of Solothurn (Soleure). A third difficulty, often insuperable, lies
in the nonexistence of appropriate good maps for comparison. In this
respect too we are well off in Switzerland.

According to my observations in this field, now continued nearly
12 years, prehistoric man had: (1) His land or province survey; (2)
his circle, district, and communal surveys, in reference to which
(3) the Alpine surveys deserve special mention, in cantons which
down to the present day know nothing of such surveys; (4) private
and special surveys. Thus it seems that my observations lend full
confirmation to the oldest historic or traditional statements
concerning the tenure of land of the Kelto-Germans or Germano-Kelts.

Among the Ojibwa concentric circles, according to Schoolcraft (_d_), constituted the symbol of time. It would be dangerous to explain the many markings of this character by the suggested symbolism, which also recalls that of Egypt in relation to the circle-figure. Inquiries have often been made whether the North American Indians have any superstitious or religious practices connected with the markings under consideration, e. g., in relation to the desire for offspring, which undoubtedly is connected with the sculpturing of cup depressions and furrows in the eastern hemisphere. No evidence is yet produced of any such correspondence of practice or tradition relating to it. In the absence of any extrinsic explanation the prosaic and disappointing suggestion intrudes that circular concentric rings are easy to draw and that the act of drawing them suggests the accentuation of depressions or hollows within their curves. Much stress is laid upon the fact that the characters are found in so many parts of the earth, with the implication that all the sculptors used them with the same significance, thus affording ground for the hypothesis that anciently one race of people penetrated all the regions designated. But in such an implication the history of the character formed by two intersecting straight lines is forgotten. The cross is as common as the cup-stone, and has, or anciently had, a different signification among the different people who used it, beginning as a mark and ending as a symbol. Therefore, it may readily be imagined that the rings in question, which are drawn nearly as easily as the cross, were at one time favorite but probably meaningless designs, perhaps, in popular expression, “instinctive” commencements of the artistic practice, as was the earliest delineation of the cross-figure. Afterward the rings, if employed as symbols or emblems, would naturally have a different meaning applied to them in each region where they now appear.

It must, however, be noted that the figures under discussion can be and often are the result of conventionalization. A striking remark is made by Mr. John Murdoch (_a_), of the Smithsonian Institution, that south of Bering strait the design of the “circle and dot,” which may be regarded as the root of the cup sculpture, is the conventionalized representation of a flower, and is very frequently seen as an ornamental device.

An elucidation of some of the most common forms of cup sculptures is given, without qualification and also without authority, but with the serene consciousness of certainty, by the Rev. Charles Rogers, “D.D., LL. D., F. S. A., Scot., etc.,” as follows:

The sculptures are sacred books, which the awe-inspired
worshipper was required to revere and, probably, to salute with
reverence. A single circle represented the sun, two circles in
union the sun and moon--Baal and Ashtaroth. The wavy groove passing
across the circle pointed to the course of water from the clouds, as
discharged upon the earth. Groups of pit marks pointed to the stars
or, more probably, to the oaks of the primeval temples.