Local landowner Ned Doherty once guided archaeologist Van Hoek to what remains of an old graveyard, where amongst the crumbling walls sits an upright stone slab bearing four small cupmarks; those distinctive circular depressions carved into rock that appear across ancient sites throughout Ireland and Britain.

These cupmarks represent one of the most widespread forms of rock art found across the Irish landscape, though their exact purpose remains something of a mystery to archaeologists. Dating these markings proves challenging, but similar examples elsewhere suggest they could be anywhere from Neolithic to Bronze Age in origin, making them potentially thousands of years old. The fact that this particular stone was incorporated into a graveyard wall raises interesting questions about how later communities viewed and reused these ancient carved stones.

The site at Carrowreagh offers a glimpse into the layers of history that accumulate in the Irish countryside, where prehistoric art sits alongside more recent burial grounds, each generation leaving its mark on the landscape. Van Hoek documented this find in 1988, adding it to the growing catalogue of rock art sites across Donegal, a county particularly rich in these enigmatic stone carvings. For those interested in Ireland’s deep past, these modest cupmarks serve as tangible links to the communities who first shaped this landscape millennia ago.