This subtle piece of rock art features a single cup mark, measuring just 6 centimetres in diameter, carved into the stone’s surface. Though easily missed by the casual observer, this modest marking represents part of the broader tradition of megalithic art that flourished across Ireland during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods.

The cup mark sits within sight of a more elaborate neighbour; just 90 metres to the northwest stands a wedge tomb decorated with its own collection of rock art. Wedge tombs, which date primarily to the Bronze Age (circa 2500–500 BCE), are among Ireland’s most common megalithic monuments, with Donegal hosting numerous examples. The proximity of these two features suggests this hillside held particular significance for the prehistoric communities who created them, possibly serving as a ritual landscape where the living commemorated their dead whilst marking the earth with symbols whose meanings remain tantalisingly obscure.

Cup marks like this one, whilst simple in appearance, are found throughout Atlantic Europe and were created by pecking or grinding circular depressions into stone surfaces. Some archaeologists interpret them as symbolic representations of the sun or moon, whilst others suggest they may have held offerings or marked territorial boundaries. Whatever their original purpose, these enduring marks connect modern visitors to the creative impulses of people who lived and died in Donegal thousands of years ago, transforming an ordinary hillside into a canvas for prehistoric expression.