Rock art, Magheranaul, Co. Donegal

Co. Donegal |

Settlement Sites

Rock art, Magheranaul, Co. Donegal

In the fields west of Magheranaul in County Donegal, a remarkable collection of prehistoric rock art once adorned a prominent ridge outcrop.

Documented by Van Hoek in the 1980s, this site contained five carved surfaces featuring an intriguing variety of cupmarks, grooves, and geometric designs spanning the length of the ridge. The engravings, designated DON 23A through DON 23E, showcased the artistic expression of Ireland's ancient inhabitants, with features ranging from simple cupmarks to complex compositions of boxes containing parallel grooves and ringed cups.

The most elaborate of these carvings, DON 23B, presented a fascinating arrangement of three rectangular boxes filled with parallel grooves, accompanied by cupmarks with concentric rings. One box contained at least ten parallel grooves of varying lengths, whilst a smaller, oval box enclosed two short grooves with a cup above them. These geometric patterns, carved into rock surfaces sloping between 5 and 18 degrees, had survived centuries of weathering and agricultural activity; plough scratches were visible across several surfaces, though the main features remained largely intact. The easternmost carving, DON 23A, featured an unusual disc-cup with a long straight groove extending down the slope, whilst the northwestern sections displayed simpler designs of isolated cupmarks, some surrounded by single rings.

Tragically, this archaeological treasure was destroyed by 1988 when the entire ridge was excavated and blown up with dynamite for quarrying purposes. Van Hoek had fortuitously recorded these ancient markings just a few years before their destruction, preserving crucial evidence of prehistoric art in Donegal. The loss of this site represents not just the physical destruction of the rock art itself, but the erasure of a tangible connection to the people who created these enigmatic symbols thousands of years ago, leaving only Van Hoek's detailed documentation as testimony to what once existed in this corner of northwest Ireland.

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