Cup and Ring Marks

When the Neolithic people who carved their mysterious cup and ring marks into the faces of the rocks that littered their landscape they left a permanent artistic legacy which still arouses interest and controversy, some five thousand years after they were first carved.

Even to list all the different theories as to the meaning or use of these strange markings would require space beyond the means of these pages.

There are innumerable sites in Scotland and northern England where these strange carvings can be visited. One of the most interesting sites to visit, purely on account of the sheer scale of the carvings is the site at Achnabreck, near Lochgilphead in Argyll. (Map ref. NR 855 906). Or the innumerable sites in Northumberland.

It is interesting to note that one of the largest cup and ring marks at the Achnabreck site measures about 1 meter in diameter, although the size is unusually large, the design of the carving is similar to many found throughout Scotland, that of a central cup surrounded by seven concentric rings. This pattern, interestingly, particularly with the incised line running outward from the central cup bears a notable similarity to a pattern found often in antiquity; that of the ritual labyrinth.

The designs at Achnabreck display another interesting aspect, that is, the carving of multiple lines radiating out from the central cup. As can be seen from the pages dedicated to methods of construction this is similar to the geometrical basis for spiral construction.

Many cup and ring marks, show the earlier ring markings evolving into spiral shapes, I have even been surprised to find amongst some the common pictish motif of two spirals conjoined.

The double volute or two-legged spiral can also be seen at the great neolithic monument of Newgrange in Ireland. The spiral motif found throughout the interior and on many of the exterior kerbstones of this monument has been likened to the pattern one would see if looking down upon a cross-section of a sound wave produced at the epicentre of the monument; likewise the chevron zig zag patterns have been likened to a sideways cross-section of a sound wave with the peaks and troughs of sound plotted.

This theory has been well described and tested by Proffessor Bob Jahn of Princeton University and Archeological Researcher Paul Devereux who have recently proposed the fascinating theory that the peoples of the New Stone Age were able to use the acoustic properties of their monuments to produce standing waves which amplified the sound waves produced inside their monuments in order to produce awe-inspiring acoustic and even visual effects. This work is mirrored by the findings of Drs Aaron Watson and David Keating, both of Reading University who have studied similar sophisticated acoustic properties at Stonehenge and Maes Howe.

The experiments made recently at Princeton University show how if a standing sound wave produced inside a stone monument is then bisected by a ray of light (as at Newgrange on the solstice, or at Maes Howe), then the effect is to produce visible sound waves. It is difficult to find this technology replicated in Pictish times, but the similarity to many cup and ring designs is quite marked, and could perhaps be the artistic precursor to later designs.

I hope to expand on these pages dedicated to cup and ring marks in the near future.

I am currently collating information on the many sites in North Northumberland and hope to post more detailed information and images in the near furure.