Aye - s'fair enough - just a thought, really...

Although
> Verticality, although not common would be a problem

Hmm - yes. One of the first places I thought of was Rocky Valley, but it didn't divert my thoughts tooooo much... That's quite a flat one, and I sort of imagined pressing some big flat bit of rubbery clay (like a pizza base) into it... Not exactly practical... But then again moving a ruddy great rock from one side of the country to another wasn't exactly easy, I would imagine! (Whichever methiod was used. I'm sure there's easier things to do to while away yer time!)

> In the case of cups you would finish up with lots of wee bumps on an irregular surface . Any ideas for that ?

Nope! None whatsoever... Just thought I'd throw the idea in the air and see what happened! Mebbes the cups could be filled with clay and made into... cups? Hmm... Ach! Who knows? They didn't have telly or trousers in them days - perhaps a nice load of cupmarks marked out in relief looked nice to them.

OK - How about this:
Could the cup-marks have been made in order to make a relief version cos it's easier to carve a shape than make a raised one? And then the mould filled with clay/bronze/whatever to make the raised shape? I'm floundering a bit in my descriptions, but you get the general idea...

It was just a thought sparked off by that lovely artefact they found that showed similarities with some rockart patterns...

G x