What is recorded here

Coomasaharn is a fractured sandstone ledge in County Kerry, Ireland, where faint cupmarks and linear grooves still mark a surface sloping gently toward the lake. The engravings are small enough to hide beneath moss and rain but large enough to suggest that someone knelt there, cutting shapes into stone long before written records. The rock sits exposed on a pasture slope, overlooked by higher ground, inviting wonder about who made the marks and what they believed they were recording.

This exposed section of outcrop is located c. 20m NE of KE071-012---- and measures 2.47m x 2.08m x .6m high. Its upper surface slopes gently upwards toward NW and bears a cupmark, two cup-and-rings, four short linear grooves and a longer curvilinear groove. Close to the latter is an area of light pocking (information: A. Purcell). The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 283. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 28 July 2013 In rough pasture field, on a SE-facing slope (171m OD), overlooked by higher ground S->W; Coomasaharn Lake c. 380m to SW. A smooth and fractured, sandstone rock (dims. 1.70m NE-SW; 2.20m NW-SE; max. H 0.35m), which has a sub-rectangular decorated surface (dims. 1.35m NW-SE; 1.10m NE-SW). The motifs are very faint and weathered. Two cupmarks (diam. 5cm; D 4mm), two cup-and-one ring motifs and linear grooves. The cup-and-ring motif to S (diam. 16cm) has a cupmark (diam. 7cm; D 11mm) and a barely traceable ring (Wth 1.50cm; D 2-3mm). The cup-and-ring motif to N (diam. 10cm) has a cupmark (diam. 4cm; D 5mm) and a barely traceable ring (Wth 1.0cm; D 2-3mm). There are five linear grooves, with the longest (L 70cm; Wth 1.5-2.5cm; D 5-7mm) along the NW-side and others toward the centre of the rock face, of which the longest (L 35cm; Wth 3.5cm) is off-centre to N. Rock art site (KE071-020----) is c. 15m to W. Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 3 March 2017

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

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