Rock Art at Derreeny, Co. Kerry

Gallery Edition: Limited edition of 75 prints in three sizes, printed on fine art heavyweight archival paper.

Open-air rock art in the ‘Atlantic’ or ‘cup and ring’ tradition is one of the oldest forms of art on the island of Ireland. Variations of the basic ring with central hollow are found across the island, though notably rare in the very south east corner. Here at Derreeny there is a large concentration of cup and ring art with some novel designs characteristic of the Cork/Kerry area. This is a small but charming example, hand carved into the bare rock in the Neolthic period, possibly at the same time that Newgrange was being built far off in the east.

The light on the evening this was taken was wonderful, picking out the contours of the hills and making them appear like the spine on the mouantain’s back.

Rock art was traditionally considered a Bronze Age phenomenon, mainly due to the presence of Bronze Age weapons occuring sometimes on the same rock as cup and ring art in Galicia and also the use of cup and ring marked stones in Bronze Age cists burials. However, it has become more and more accepted that these were more likely secondary re-use of an older tradition. None of the main canon of cup and ring panels show signs of metal tools having been used. There are also some strong hints that cup and ring art may also have been re-used in some passage tombs.

Print only on heavyweight fine art cotton rag paper with white border. Sizing relates to paper size.