What is recorded here

Three earth-fast boulders in Carndonagh, County Donegal, carry cup marks and connected ring motifs cut into solid rock. The largest stretches 2.6 metres and displays five cup-and-ring designs, four of them joined as if passing a signal from one stone to another. The third boulder pushes through a cliff face like a broken tooth, holding two small cups that may have marked a boundary, a meeting place or a warning. Whoever struck those marks worked in darkness or dawn, making temporary human life visible in permanent stone.

Three earth-fast boulders contain various motifs. The largest is at the SE and measures 2.6m NNW – SSE by 1.5m wide. It is carved with four cup-marks and five cup-and-ring motifs. Two of the cup-and-ring motifs have external circles and four of the five are connected. The cup-marks measure 0.05m in diameter and the largest cup-and-ring motif measures 0.25m in diameter. The boulder to the WNW of this measures 1.6m N-S by 1.1m in maximum width. It is carved with three cup-marks and three cup-and-ring motifs, two of which are connected. The cup-marks are between 0.05mm and 0.06m in diameter and the largest cup-and-ring motif is 0.18m in diameter. The third boulder is 18m N of the second and measures 2.4m E-W by 0.9m wide. This boulder protrudes from the top of a cliff face. It is carved with two cup-marks which measure 0.06m and 0.08m in diameter respectively. Compiled by: Richard Crumlish Date of upload: 22 April 2013 See linked document with copies of photographs of the rock art. These are copyright and uploaded courtesy of Richard Crumlish.

Likely dating to the Neolithic or Bronze Age, the rock art at Carndonagh may have had ritual or symbolic significance, possibly linked to fertility, celestial observation, or territorial markers. Cup-and-ring motifs are commonly associated with ceremonial landscapes in prehistoric Britain and Ireland.

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