Rock scribing, Dromtine, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Ritual/Ceremonial

Rock scribing, Dromtine, Co. Kerry

Some of the most intriguing entries in the archaeological record are not descriptions of what survives, but honest admissions of what cannot be found.

In the townland of Dromtine in County Kerry, there is supposed to be a large rock bearing scribings, which is the informal term used for carved or incised marks on stone surfaces, ranging from early medieval inscriptions to prehistoric cup-and-ring marks. The trouble is that nobody, despite extensive searching, has been able to locate it.

The sole source for the rock's existence is a reference in Barrington (1976), which places a 'large rock with scribings' somewhere within Dromtine townland. That single bibliographic citation is, so far, all there is. No subsequent fieldwork has confirmed the find, and the rock itself remains unidentified. It is the kind of entry that raises more questions than it answers: was Barrington working from an earlier source, from local testimony, or from a personal observation that could not later be repeated? The record simply does not say.

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