Ancient tombstone

At a graveyard (MA023-021----), on the NE side of Inishkeas South adjacent to the abandoned 18th-20th century village. When Henry (1937, 275) visited the Inishkeas in the 1930’s she noted that this cross-slab stood upright ‘on a slight eminence, S of the harbour, and between some of the houses and the sea’, and she recorded these measurements for the erect slab: '65 in. high and 40 to 45 in. wide' [H c. 1.6m; Wth 1-1.15m] (ibid. 275). She also published a photograph (ibid. facing page 273), which shows a roughly rectangular slab, broad at the top, narrowing to a point at the base. Filling the upper portion of one face is a double-line cross of arcs enclosed by a triple line circle (diam. c. 0.9m). Small, paired spirals embellish the top of the circle at either side, rising in a continuous line from the outermost groove of the three concentric rings. Descending from the base of the cross-in-circle is an elaborate cruciform stem or shaft of spirals and frets, asymmetrical in it elements, with two opposing spirals at its base. In the intervening period, the slab has fallen and the upper half has shattered, greatly damaging the upper portion of the carving. The lower portion of the carving is still relatively intact, albeit weathered and difficult to see. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 19 December 2022

This cross-slab likely dates to the early Christian period (5th–10th centuries AD) and may have served as a tombstone or memorial within a medieval graveyard. Its cross-carving suggests a Christian funerary or commemorative function, possibly associated with monastic or ecclesiastical activity on the island.