That is precisely the situation this cross-slab from Ardamore found itself in, and its accidental rediscovery in September 1978 set in motion a small chain of archaeological detective work before the stone ended up where it now rests, in Músaem Chorca Dhuibhne in Baile an Fheirtéaraigh on the Dingle Peninsula.

When ground was being prepared for farm buildings at Ardamore, workers uncovered the slab, which measures 1.22 metres in length and tapers from a maximum width of 0.4 metres towards its base. A two-week trial excavation conducted by Manning in 1980 confirmed what the circumstances already suggested: the stone had not been placed there in any meaningful sense. It was, as Cuppage recorded in 1986, clearly in a secondary context, meaning it had been moved at some earlier point from wherever it originally stood. No early ecclesiastical site was found in the immediate vicinity, and the nearest candidate with any possible early Christian origin lay 475 metres to the north-west, at Templebeg. The decoration carved into the upper third of the face gives the slab its real interest. A Greek cross, that is, one with arms of equal length, sits within a round panel, carved in relief with the background cut back some seven millimetres. The arms are formed from double bands, and at each terminal those bands spiral outward into interlocking c-curves that fill the angles between the arms. A simple triskele, a motif of three curved lines radiating from a central point, appears at each junction of curves, with the exception of the upper left angle, which departs slightly from the pattern by having four curved lines meeting in the same fashion and two c-curves rather than one filling the space. There is also a small hole in the top edge of the stone, barely a centimetre across and aligned precisely with the vertical axis of the cross, whose original purpose is not recorded.

The slab is now held at Músaem Chorca Dhuibhne, the local museum in Baile an Fheirtéaraigh, which serves as a reasonable home for an object whose original setting remains unknown. Visitors who take the time to look closely at the carving will find that what appears at first glance to be a simple incised cross resolves, on inspection, into something considerably more considered.