Geography Teacher in England Finds Stone With 1,600-Year-Old Inscriptions in His Garden

The rock is covered in ogham, an alphabet made up of parallel lines used for writing in the Irish language

Sarah Kuta
Daily Correspondent

May 15, 2024 1:45 p.m.



The stone has inscriptions on three sides. Herbert Art Gallery and Museum


In the spring of 2020, Graham Senior was pulling weeds in his garden in Coventry, England, when he unearthed a rock with some unusual markings. He didn’t know exactly what he’d stumbled upon, but he thought it might be something noteworthy. He was right. The rock was covered in 1,600-year-old markings from an early medieval alphabet known as ogham, reports the Guardian’s Dalya Alberge.

Ogham, which consists of groupings of parallel lines, was used to write an early version of the Irish language beginning around the fourth century. These markings were usually inscribed in materials such as stone.

Over the weekend, the newly discovered rock went on display at Coventry’s Herbert Art Gallery and Museum. It is featured in a new exhibition, “Collecting Coventry,” alongside a variety of other artifacts from the museum’s collections.

The rectangular gray rock measures roughly four inches long and weighs about five ounces. Inscriptions can be seen on three of its sides. Senior, a 55-year-old geography teacher, found it buried about four or five inches deep in one of his flowerbeds. After washing it off, he snapped a few photos and sent them to a relative who is an archaeologist.

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/stone-with-1600-year-old-early-irish-inscriptions-found-in-mans-garden-180984327/