What is recorded here

Derreeny holds a flat-topped sandstone boulder marked with faint cupmarks and pickmarks, overlooking the Kealduff River valley from the lower slopes of Knockaunanattin Mountain. Someone struck that stone repeatedly during a time when the valley belonged to herds and memory rather than written history. The marks have worn shallow, but they still point north along the boulder's length like a gesture made across centuries.

In rough rocky hill pasture, on the lower S-facing slopes of Knockaunanattin Mountain with commanding views S along the valley of the Kealduff River. A flat-topped boulder (3.1m N-S; 1.3m E-W; H 0.8m) displays two weathered cupmarks (diam. 4cm; D 1cm and diam. 2.5cm; D 1cm, respectively) towards the N end of the boulder's upper surface. Three separate areas of pock-marks occur along the middle of the boulder to the S. There is another example of rock art (KE082-074001-) c. 80m to the W. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Kerry. Volume I: South-West Kerry' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). In rough mountain pasture, within an old field system, on a SE-facing slope (150m OD) which overlooks Kealduff river valley. A smooth and fractured, oblong, sandstone boulder (dims. 3.1m N-S; 1.3m E-W; H 0.8m) which has a flat-topped, sub-rectangular decorated surface (dims. 0.5m N-S; 0.32m E-W) with a long-axis N-S. The rock art is very faint and concentrated toward the N-end. The motifs consist of an oval cupmark (dims. 3cm x 4cm; D 3mm) with two distinct pickmarks adjacent to N. One cup-and-ring motif (diam. 20cm) having a cupmark (diam. 2.5cm; D 9mm) and a very faint ring (Wth 2.5cm; D 2-3mm). There are areas of pickmarks to N and S of the cup-and-ring motif. There is a double pickmark (total dims. 5cm x 2.5cm; D 5mm) to E of the cup-and-ring. (Byrne et. al. 1996, 62, No. 395) Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 9 March 2017

Likely dating to the Neolithic or Bronze Age, the rock art may have held ritual or territorial significance, possibly linked to landscape orientation or celestial markers. Interpretations of the weathered motifs remain speculative, though they may represent symbolic patterns associated with local prehistoric beliefs.

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