What is recorded here

In 1949 a bulldozer stripped topsoil from a low drumlin in Hempstown Commons and revealed a hidden cist roofed by two slabs. One sandstone slab, triangular and a metre long, wore scattered pecked marks on its underside: a horseshoe-shaped hollow, small cups, conjoined circles, and a lozenge with an incised edge. The machine did not understand what it had broken open. It had only removed dirt from a chamber where someone had spent hours striking stone to make shapes that still resist explanation.

In 1949, a cist (KD020-015001-) was accidentally uncovered during the bulldozing of topsoil from the highest point of a low drumlin to expose gravel deposits. It was roofed by two slabs, one of which was decorated on its underside. It is a sandstone slab, roughly triangular in shape with one end coming to a point (dims. L 1m; max Wth 0.7m; T 0.2m). One surface carried a pecked decorative pattern of several scattered motifs, including a penannular or horseshoe-shaped pecked area, small pecked cupmarks, a pair of conjoined pecked circles, irregular patches of pecking, and a pecked lozenge-shaped area with an incised outline. (Hartnett 1950, 193-8; Waddell 1970, 120) Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 10 June 2011

The rock art is likely from the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, given the presence of a cist burial, and may represent symbolic or ritual markings associated with funerary practices. The decorated slab could have held spiritual or social significance for the local prehistoric community.

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