Cupmarks are among the oldest forms of human mark-making found in Ireland, typically associated with prehistoric rock art, so their appearance on a medieval graveslab is the kind of detail that quietly refuses to sit still. It suggests either deliberate reuse of an older carved surface, or a stonemason working within a tradition that folded ancient symbols into Christian ones without much apparent anxiety about the combination.

The slab was recorded and illustrated during the nineteenth century, which tells us that it was visible and notable enough at that point to attract the attention of antiquarians, the scholars and enthusiasts who spent much of that era documenting Ireland's carved stones, ruined churches, and early grave markers before many were lost or moved. Beyond that illustration, however, the record thins considerably. The site was compiled as part of a survey by Geraldine Stout and Padraig Clancy, with a revised upload in May 2018, but even that record is candid about the limits of what is known: the slab is described as not precisely located. Its current whereabouts, whether still in situ, moved to a churchyard, or incorporated into a wall or building, is simply not established in the documentary record.

Dalkey itself has several early Christian and medieval sites, and any visitor interested in this slab would do well to begin with the town's existing heritage resources and local historical societies, who may hold more recent information about its whereabouts. The honest reality is that some recorded monuments exist more fully on paper than on the ground, and this is one of them. If the slab does surface, the thing to look for is that combination of motifs: a cross that would be unremarkable on its own, made strange by the small hollow at its centre that connects it, however ambiguously, to a much older habit of marking stone.