The stone is earthfast, meaning it is fixed in the ground rather than placed or moved, and its upper face lies flush with the surrounding soil, giving it the appearance of something that has simply always been there. These shallow cup-shaped marks, known as cupmarks, are among the most common yet least understood forms of prehistoric rock art found in Ireland and across Atlantic Europe, carved by striking or grinding stone against stone, though their precise purpose remains a matter of considerable debate among archaeologists.

The site was identified and described by Aoibheann Lambe, whose account records those two cupmarks alongside additional pecking on the rock surface. That combination, deliberate geometric marking alongside less structured worked areas, is typical of a tradition of rock art that dates broadly to the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, though pinning individual sites to a specific century is rarely straightforward without associated finds or excavation. Kerry has a notable concentration of such sites, many of them on open hillsides or near routeways, though Kealduff adds quietly to that picture with a stone that asks to be looked at carefully rather than announced.