What is recorded here

A thin sandstone slab, half a metre across and no thicker than a knife, lies buried inside a ceallúnach grave at the Riasc oratory. Someone cut a Maltese cross into its face and set a small bird in the upper corner, perhaps a peacock, before later hands dragged the stone from its first purpose and forced it to hold a dead body instead. The cross became a tomb, the tomb became a room, and the room became a field where the shapes still wait beneath the grass.

This cross-slab (Stone H; see KE042-060022-) was found reused as part of a ceallúnach grave within the oratory at Riasc. It is a thin sandstone slab (L 0.85m. W 0.4m. T 0.05m) squared at the top and tapered along its length. The smooth-dressed face bears a recessed design consisting of a Maltese cross within a square frame. In the upper right-hand angle is a small stylised representation of a bird (probably a peacock), originally one of an opposed pair. . The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 874. Updated by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 10 November 2014

This cross-slab likely dates to the early medieval period, associated with Christian monastic or ecclesiastical activity in the region. Its reuse in a ceallúnach grave suggests continuity of sacred or commemorative use over time.

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