Early ideas: religious beliefs and the dead
Ever since rock carvings were first recognised as being ancient, people have wondered why they were made. Noting the association of cup-marked stones with burials Greenwell (1877: 343) commented that, 'the notion that they are, or may have been, figures, after a very crude and conventional manner, of some object embodying an idea that involved the deepest and most esoteric principle of the religion held by these people.' Some years later, Hall (1892:43) remarked on this idea that, 'In other words, the primitive people who used these markings meant them to be outward and visible sign or symbol of something related to the spiritual future of their departed.' Discussions about why people made the carvings are still ongoing.