(CHELAN OM MID Is AVie 
CUP SCULPTURES 
The simplest form of rock inscription is almost ubiquitous. In Eu- 
rope, 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 infre- 
quently surrounding them with one or more clearly cut rings; some: 
times, 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 sug- 
gested the idea of the devices, now called cup-markings, to those who 
first seulptured them. 
Vast numbers of these cup stones are found in the British islands, 
often connected with other petroglyphs. In the county of Northum- 
berland alone there are 55 stones charged with 350 sculptures, among 
which are many cup depressions. So also in Germany, France, Den- 
mark, 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 repro- 
duced in Fig. 147. His classification is as follows: 
First type. Single cups.—They are the simpiest type of these ancient stone-cut- 
tings. 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 neon 
ciated 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. 
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