Rock art, Carrowreagh or Craignacally, Co. Donegal

Co. Donegal |

Settlement Sites

Rock art, Carrowreagh or Craignacally, Co. Donegal

On a low, grassy knoll in the southern half of Doagh Island, overlooking Trawbreaga Bay, lies an intriguing example of prehistoric rock art carved into exposed bedrock.

The artwork sits atop a sheet of weathered stone, roughly 5 metres by 4 metres, which straddles the southeastern edge of the rocky outcrop. The eastern boundary drops away as a steep rock face, whilst a collection of upright boulders marks the western edge, creating a natural frame for this ancient canvas.

The bedrock surface itself tells a geological story; parallel creaks and folds running north to south give it a distinctly corrugated appearance, dividing the stone into several narrow sections. The main feature is a cup and two ring motif, positioned on the relatively flat upper portion of the rock. At its centre sits a well defined circular cup, about 7 to 8 centimetres across and 2 centimetres deep, surrounded by two concentric rings that span roughly 30 centimetres overall. These rings are so shallow they're barely visible to the casual observer, with the inner ring appearing to have a gap on its southeastern side. A radial groove was documented in 2018, extending from the central cupmark downslope towards a natural hollow in the rock, though curiously this feature wasn't visible during a 2020 inspection.

Several smaller cupmarks pepper the surrounding stone surface, each measuring 5 to 7 centimetres in diameter and equally faint in their execution. One sits just southeast of the main motif, with two others scattered further downslope, whilst another rougher example can be found three quarters of a metre to the west northwest of the central design. From this western cupmark, what might be radial grooves extend northward, though these could equally be natural features of the weathered rock. First brought to official attention by Aoibheann Lambe and documented by Jane O'Shaughnessy in March 2020, this subtle yet significant site adds another piece to the puzzle of Ireland's prehistoric landscape.

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