LM for scale. The carved surface with “at least 40 cupmarks” is mainly to the left of the top of the stone. The remaining uncarved top part was probably buried. The whole stone was uprooted and is interesting in that it indicates that what we see of these carved panels may only be the tip of the iceberg, so to speak.
Image credit: ryaner
Is this up on archaeology.ie now Ryaner? Found this one day while having a look around the abandoned house and reported it to the NMS. Couldn't believe a boulder with so many cup marks had been missed!
It sure is. Chris Corlett has paid a visit and photographed it. Didn't know it was your find. Mad stuff. Kind of strange that whoever dug it up and laid it there left it topside up rather than just dumping it. Do you think they might have known what they were dealing with?
Yeah Chris said he had been around the house before but had not been over at the boulder. I think they did know it was significant, you might have seen all the other large boulders from the field were dumped in a hollow on the other side of the field, just this one was moved over to the back of the house. Did you go over to the other one I found on the road between Newtown and Roundwood? Spotted cup marks on a boulder in the front garden as I drove past one evening, Chris made a visit and confirmed it. There's rings on it too.
That's a lovely image. What a stone though.
I remember you posting that garden stone somewhere, F***book maybe. I haven't checked it out yet as I haven't come across it on archaeology.ie, so much to see so little time etc. I had noticed all the other field clearance on the far side of the field - peculiar set of circumstances all round really, why dig it up if you know it's significant?