Rock art in Caherdaniel

In improved pasture (69m OD), with occasional earthfast boulders, on a S-facing slope. Excellent views all around, especially Darrynane Bay to SW. A smooth and fractured sandstone (dims. 1.35m N-S; 1.90m E-W; max. H 1.02m at E) having a rectangular decorated surface (dims. 0.90m N-S; 1.10m E-W) with a SW-facing aspect and bearing weathered decorative elements covered in lichen. The motifs consist of a cup-and-ring motif (overall diam. 14cm; ring Wth 2-2.5cm; D 4mm; cup diam. 6cm; D 16mm) located centrally. A second cup-and-ring motif (overall diam. 12cm; ring Wth 2cm; D 4mm; cup diam. 6cm; D 12mm) is to NW side of decorated surface. Two cup-and-partial ring motifs are located along the northern margin. Five cupmarks (range diam. 3-4.5cm; D 3-7mm) are off-centre to E and W with an isolated example in the SE corner. One of these cupmarks (diam. 4cm; D 1cm) has a radial groove (L 14cm; Wth 2-3cm; D 4mm) at W. A linear groove (Wth 2-3.5cm; L 0.62m) bisects the stone (long-axis E-W); There is a gap (L 10cm) in this groove before it continues (L 0.30m) at W end. This monument was initially identified as rock art by A. Lambe (2016). Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 7 July 2017

Likely dating to the Neolithic or Bronze Age, this rock art may have had ritual or territorial significance, possibly linked to landscape features such as Darrynane Bay. Symbolic motifs on such stones often relate to navigation, seasonal cycles, or ancestral memory in prehistoric communities.