What is recorded here

Rock art in Derrynablaha holds tiny pickmarks and one possible cup-and-ring on a fractured sandstone ledge above the Kealduff River valley. The marks are shallow enough that moss and weathering can erase them, yet they cluster beside a drystone boundary where people may have tended pasture, marked a route or simply touched the mountain.

In mountain pasture, on an E-facing slope (190m OD); Drystone field boundary is c. 2m to NNE and stream is c. 20m to S. Good views of Kealduff River valley, Lough Brin to NE and mountains N->E->ESE; Overlooked by higher ground S->W->NW. A smooth and fractured sandstone rock outcrop (dims. 1.20m NE-SW; 1.90m NW-SE; max. H 0.80m) with an irregular-shaped decorated surface (dims. 0.65m NE-SW; 0.70m NW-SE) which has a SSW-facing aspect. The rock art is very subtle and is obscured in places by black moss. Motifs are concentrated to NE-half of rock face and consist of numerous perfectly formed, deep pickmarks (diam. 4-5mm; D 2-3mm). Distinct circular formation (diam. 10cm) of pickmarks (ring diam. 10cm) at N-end, may enclose a cupmark, although this is inconclusive due to weathering. A semi-circular formation of pickmarks is located at S-end of decorated surface. A very weathered cup-and-one ring motif (diam. 7cm) having an oval cupmark (diam. 3cm NE-SW; 2cm NW-SE) and ring (Wth 1cm; D 2mm) is respected by a natural rock fracture to E. Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 27 March 2017

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