thanks.
i find the sammi very interesting. i will try to find the book. north america is covered with petroglyphs and rock art including many cup and ring carvings... there are some in the woods near my house that look like sun images, or wagon wheels. they are spiked wheels with rays extending out. they are at the base of a waterfall beside a pool. they are unmakred, unrecorded, and unknown except to the landowner.
this is the case with a lot of rock art here. i often go to a place on the tennessee border called paint rock. it has red and yellow paintings of zig zag lines and mazes. it is on paint creek. the odd thing is, the spot is a source for red and yellow ochres.... i think the paintings were there to help people find the ochre deposits.
here's a thought for you.. there is a boulder nearby that has cup marks all over the top of it. the local indians still go there and use the cup holes to crack walnuts. the stone is still surrounded with wild walnut trees today. i know it is a mundane use for the cups but it works very well and may have been the reason that they were carved into the rock.
clyde