Pluais na Scríob:
An analysis of the Glanrastel inscriptions
Anneli O’Neill
The Irish name, Pluais na Scríob, ‘the Cave of the Writings’, relates to an extraordinary
finding, its secrets which so far remain unsolved. Attached to this article is the complete
graphic presentation of the petroglyphs to which it refers. In the following article, details of
the engravings will be analyzed on the basis of the drawing.
The natural rock formation consists of a freestanding boulder and a large rock slab
which leans in a sloping fashion against it, on the northern side of the boulder. The slab rests
on the boulder’s upper longitudinal edge. Thus the slab forms a shelter open to the north-east
and south-west (Plate I). The vertical northern side of the boulder, is therefore, for the most
part, protected from weathering. This is the face that is completely covered with engravings.
Plate I. Pluais na Scríob, looking towards the north-east.
The striking location of Pluais na Scríob, placed on the steep southern slope of the Droppa
Mountains on the Beara Peninsula, Co. Kerry, may well be the cause of the relatively low
number of visitors to the site to date. One can access the site through Glanrastel valley,
passing a great number of archaeological remains, including prehistoric fulachta fiadh and
standing stones, and hut sites of various ages. Coming closer to Pluais na Scríob the hillside
gets steeper. Sheer rock walls shape the rough landscape and streams of water cut through the
overgrown bog landscape. Without knowing what to look for, it would be easily to pass by the
site. The location of the site, at c. 310-320m above sea level, poses questions. Why were the
engravings of Pluais na Scríob made at such a remote site? Has it always been this remote?
Could some of the nearby archaeological remains be contemporary with the engravings? Is it
because of its remoteness that the engravings have survived to the present day?
Several scientists have already discussed the engravings on Pluais na Scríob. F Finlay
includes the Glanrastel finding in a group of engravings characterized by its technique, the
incised type. Examples of these engravings are relatively rarely found in Ireland, some of
them being in the context of megalithic structures. But despite distinctive similarities the
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engravings of the Glanrastel valley stand out of that group. Because of the quantity and
density of the engravings Finlay refers to them as “not normal”.1, 2
In E.S.Twohig’s investigations on this type of engravings they appear under the term
COMBS carvings, named after the surfaces on which they occur (Caves, Outcrops, Megaliths
and Boulder-Shelters). The linking feature again is the technique of carving, respectively
incising the engravings with a sharp tool, not necessarily of metal. The main motif is the
straight line. All COMBS shapes show a geometric and abstract structure.3
W. Grant of Edinburgh University, Scotland, approached the engravings from a
linguistic point of view. He interprets the writings at Pluais na Scríob as ogham. More
precisely, he terms it archaic ogham, ogham inscriptions of an early stage in the development
of this script. This would make it probably older than the conventional ogham which was in
use “during the first few centuries AD.”4, 5
He also mentions an interesting comparable site, the Tollard House Grotto in Argyll,
where there are similar carvings. The engravings in that site have been interpreted as “Ogham
consaine”6 inscriptions, used in the context of a fertility cult.7
R.L. Pyle points out remarkable similarities to petroglyphs in West Virginia and
Kentucky, also interpreted as an archaic style of ogham.8
With regard to the age of the engravings, definite evidence is lacking. What stands out
in the carvings of Pluais na Scríob when compared with other sites is the densely engraved
area here, which is of remarkable size. The vertical northern side of the boulder shows
numerous carvings on an area measuring 5.75m x 2.25m. Only very few sections remain
undecorated. Particularly complex are the carvings of the middle part of the rock face. The
carvings then become less dense towards the edges. In case of the north-east area this is
caused by the process of weathering since this section is not protected by the slab.
The main motif used is the straight line, which can occur in groups of up to 20
correlated lines. The engraved motifs are of varying depth, length and width. Some of them
are very obvious, others are extremely thin and fine, so much so that they only became
evident on well-exposed black and white photographs.
Only a few symbols vary from the simple stroke. The upper half of the middle part of
the decorated area shows a remarkably large sickle-shaped symbol, opening to the right. It’s
1
F.Finlay, The Rock Art of Cork and Kerry, unpublished M.A.Thesis, UCC 1973, p.
156.
Ibid..
E.S. Twohig, “An Enduring Tradition, Incised Rock Art in Ireland”, in: H. Roche, E.
Grogan, J. Bradley, J. Coles, B. Raftery (eds), From Megaliths to Metals, Essays in Honour of
George Eogan, Oxford: 2004, pp. 222-229.
4
W.Grant, Pluais Na Scríob, Unravelling Glenrastel’s mysterious cave writing, in:
Tuosist History and Newsletter Committee, Tuosist 6000, Turas Staire go dTuath Ó Siosta,
Lauragh 1999, 20.
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W. Grant, “Pluais Na Scríob, Unravelling Glenrastel’s mysterious cave writing”, in
Tuosist 6000, Turas Staire go dTuath Ó Siosta, Lauragh: Tuosist History and Newsletter
Committee, 1999, pp. 18-21.
6
Ogham consaine refers to a type of ogham “that uses only consonants, semivowels and
the diphtong "ui", (H.Mountain, The Celtic Encyclopedia Vol.5, p.1237, 1998). It stands for a
type of ogham without vowels, with the vowels being represented by the combination of
consonants.
7
J. Polansky, “Preliminary Studies at Tollard House Ogam Cave, Argyll, Scotland”, in
The Epigraphic Society Occasional Papers, Vol.14,1985, pp. 155-159.
8
R.L. Pyle, “An 8th Century Irishman in West Virginia”, in Ancient American,
Archaeology of the Americas Before Columbus, Vol. 9, No. 56, 2004, p. 6.
2
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2
one of the very few curved symbols on Pluais na Scríob, made out of several adjoining curved
lines (Plate II).
Plate II. Pluais na Scríob: sickle-shaped symbol.
Equally impressive is an X-shaped mark, the most obvious example of its type, on the
outer section on the left (Plate III). But this doesn’t necessarily point to a Christian origin,
since simple crossing lines can be found in various periods, with different intentions behind
them.
Plate III. Pluais na Scíob: cross (actual size of photo 0.25m x 0.25m).
At variance with the strokes on Pluais na Scríob are relatively small round, shallow
depressions. Apparently made by a different technique than the incised lines, some still show
traces of picking (Plate IV).
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Plate IV. Pluais na Scríob, round depression (actual size of photo 0.25m x 0.25m).
In Plate V one can see a combination of vertical and horizontal lines crossing each
other in right angles, occasionally forming a ladder-like symbol.
Plate V. Pluais na Scríob, ladder symbol to left (actual size of photo 0.25m x 0.25m).
The carvings are cut into the rock surface with the help of a sharp tool, either metal or
stone. There are large deposits of quartz nearby, which may have provided suitable tools.
Generally the technique used was incising, resulting in a V-shaped profile, the exception
being the picked-out depressions.
The drawing of the site illustrates both the natural rock surface as well as the
artificially cut structures. This facilitates giving an overall impression of the site, and in it one
can see in many cases the interplay of both layers.
At first sight the engravings seem to be randomly and irregularly spread over the
surface area. This impression is misleading! One might find it surprising but despite the great
density of the engravings, the lines hardly ever overlap. And if they do, crossing lines are
clearly associated with each other, either by their orientation, by their similar length or by
having the same starting and end-point.
One example is a clearly V-shaped motif, where two meet at a sharp angle, containing
the same shape replicated a second time inside. The outer “V” shape is crossed by a single
line in a right angle, just about touching the top of the inner “V”. This group of strokes
obviously belongs together (Plate VI).
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Plate VI. Pluais na Scríob, V-shaped symbol (actual
size of photo 0.25m x 0.25m).
Closer examination reveals that the motives,
groups and patterns on Pluais na Scríob all follow a
precise scheme. Single lines as well as, in most cases,
groups of parallel lines are oriented towards a
baseline. This baseline serves as starting or endpoint,
being used respectively as centre line (Plate VII).
These baselines can be artificially carved lines, but
more often they are natural cracks of the rock.
Plate VII. Pluais na Scríob: parallel lines (actual size of photo 0.25m x 0.25m).
Several of these cracks run sloping from right to left and subdivide the area into
registers. Further shorter lines, mostly horizontal, serve as baselines.
The cut-in strokes mostly run vertically or vary from that by their slightly sloping
position. Some single lines are apparently longer and carved more deeply than the average, so
they catch the viewer’s eye. They disrupt the otherwise rather uniform nature of the structure
and interlink sequences, arranged one above the other. Even the “X” shape isn’t placed at
random. Its central point stands on a base line. Several lines are directly linked to the cross by
running parallel with it, and are slightly eroded by weathering (see Plate III).
Due to the regular distribution, the accurate depiction and the uniformity of the
motives it should be emphasized here that it is unlikely that these carvings were the result of a
purely functional use. It has been suggested, for example, that the engravings on Pluais na
Scríob were as a result of tool sharpening activity. But so-called whetstones, which are used
in the process of tool sharpening, usually show a network of lines of a highly irregular
structure.
If this is to be a simple counting system, and a sheep tally has been suggested, the
engravings are far too complex. The great lack of comparable examples elsewhere in Ireland
supports this argument.
One has to assume that what we have here is an information system of a more complex
structure. Its regularity, the limited number of different motives and the repeating patterns
make a script seem an obvious assumption. The pattern of a baseline in combination with
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crossing lines, running parallel or slightly sloping, resemble ogham inscriptions. An excellent
source for today’s study of this script is the Book of Ballymote. Although we nowadays know
this alphabet mainly from standing stones, where the longitudinal edge serves as stemline,
examples on flat surfaces, for instance the Ogam Cave at Tollard House mentioned above, or
even examples without a reference line or edge are well known. Hopefully these
considerations will arouse archaeologists and philologists interest to carry out further study
and eventually reveal the context and purpose of Pluais na Scríob’s inscriptions.
Note about Author
Anneli O'Neill studied prehistoric archaeology in Munich, Cologne and Cork. Her MA thesis
(2009) involved an archaeological survey in the Lauragh area of the Beara Peninsula. She
has since worked as a field archaeologist in Bavaria and currently works part-time in the
Bavarian State Archaeological Collection in Munich, and has started a PhD thesis on an early
Neolithic settlement in the north of Bavaria.
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