Rock Art, GLEBE (Desertegny ED)

Rock Art in Ireland, dating from the Bronze Age

On the W coast of the Inishowen Peninsula, in rough ground at the margin of an arable field bordered at W a steep-sided rocky sea inlet which opens onto Lough Swilly. There are panoramic views across the Lough to the Fanad Peninsula, where the long spine of Knockalla Mountain defines the W horizon and Crockanaffrin peak is visible in the distance to SW. Visibility is also good to the SE and S. This striking panel of rock art was discovered when a concealing layer of sod and overgrowth was removed during farm works. The decoration is located on the upper surface of a roughly rectangular block of bedrock (3.20m E−W; 1.40m N−S) which slopes slightly down to W. A natural fracture, extending roughly centrally along the E−W length of the stone, divides it into two narrow panels: There are six cup-and-circle motifs, three in a row on the N panel and three in a tight cluster on the S panel; these are interspersed with individual cupmarks and surface pecking. The motifs are concentrated on the W half of the outcrop where the rock surface is relatively smooth and flat; the surface towards the E end of the outcrop is rougher, uneven and spalled, and the few motifs here less indistinct. N panel, moving from W to E: At the W end of the N panel is a cup-and-3 circle motif (ext. diam. 43cm; cup diam. 5cm) (no. 1) with widely spaced rings and a second, shallow cupmark (diam. 3cm) between the t

Period:
Bronze Age

Coordinates:
55.18°N, 7.52°W

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