This smooth rock sheet, which slopes gently southward at about 4 degrees, actually bears a fascinating collection of carved cupmarks and rings that reveal the artistic efforts of our ancient ancestors. The Donegal Archaeological Survey’s original illustration somehow missed these features entirely, giving the false impression of an unmarked surface.

Upon closer inspection, the rock reveals five large, deeply carved cupmarks, each with its own distinctive character. Three of these cups feature complete, deeply incised rings with long, straight grooves extending from them like tails. Another cup sports a short, curving tail with the faint remnants of a ring, whilst a smaller cupmark sits alone near another that’s enclosed by an angular ring with its own curved tail. Near the southern edge, a shallow depression hints at what might have been the beginning of yet another large cup that was never completed.

Perhaps the most intriguing feature sits at the centre of the rock; a roughly rectangular box shape connected by pecked markings to one of the angular cup and ring combinations. Though empty now, this box may have been intended to contain parallel grooves similar to those found on nearby stones. The surface also displays several long, faint grooves whose origins remain mysterious; they could be ancient plough marks, natural glacial striations, or perhaps prehistoric artists incorporated existing natural features into their designs as elongated tails. This creative adaptation of the natural landscape shows how our ancestors worked with, rather than against, the stone’s existing characteristics to create their enduring artwork.