Cup marks or are they?

Cup marks is a type of rock art, in Småland these represent the most usual type of rock art. In Kronoberg County there are ca 540 sites where rock art has been registered (see FMIS). With a site I mean (in this case) that one or several carved, engraved or polished figures have been made on flat rocks or on boulders. The cup marks found in these parts are often ca 3-6 cm in diameter and 0,5-2 cm in depth. It is assumed that most of these are from the Bronze Age, though there are those that are assumed to be older and younger some from the Middle Ages or more recent periods. I

“Standard” Smålandic prehistoric cup marks made upon a boulder.

They are not that easy to spot, as they do not have sharp edges, their edges are smooth and this makes near to invisible, there fore I have made a ring around one of them.

A few days ago a colleague and me visited one of these sites. As we studied the cup marks we began discussing wheatear or not these particular cup marks where cup marks or not. These cup marks have a mark after a chisel at the bottom why we argue that these probably are due to more modern activities, probably to make holes to dived big boulders like this one. This particular boulder has been split into at least two parts. Normally the cup marks look like they have been grinded or polished.

Remains that resembles like “cup marks” with chisel marks

 

We are open to other interpretations as well though we believe that ours is a plausible one.

Magnus Reuterdahl