8 October 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Teacher unearthed stone with ancient ogham writing from Ireland in Coventry garden

A geography teacher, Graham Senior, stumbled across a rock with mysterious incisions while tidying his overgrown garden in Coventry, England.  The discovery of a small stone carved with an early form of Celtic script has caused excitement among archaeologists.

The rectangular sandstone rock was found by Graham Senior in Coventry during lockdown in 2020 while he was weeding, but its true value was only recently understood.

The 11-centimeter-long and 139-gram rectangular sandstone rock had cryptic inscriptions on it that suggested a history spanning over 1,600 years, all written in the mysterious Ogham alphabet.

Ogham is an early medieval alphabet used to write the Archaic Irish language from the 4th to the 6th century and Old Irish from the 6th to the 9th century. It is usually found carved on stones in Ireland, Wales, and western Britain. It was the first written language in Ireland. The majority of the 400 or so known inscriptions from the Archaic Irish period are family name pillars that were built to announce land ownership.

Ogham is an extremely unique writing system among all writing systems, with lines arranged in groups of one to five only. The stones provide insight into the Irish language before the use of the Latin insular script.



📣 Our WhatsApp channel is now LIVE! Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates, just click here to follow us on WhatsApp and never miss a thing!!



Graham Senior with Ali Wells, exhibition curator at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry. Photo: The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum
Graham Senior with Ali Wells, exhibition curator at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry. Photo: The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum

Finds liaison officer for the Birmingham Museums Trust, Teresa Gilmore, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the discovery on an Ogham stone in the English midlands was a rare find.

“These finds do not turn up in the midlands. The bulk of Ogham inscriptions are found over in Ireland,” she said.

Professor Katherine Forsyth of Celtic Studies at the University of Glasgow conducted additional research that shed more light on the stone’s provenance. Her findings point to a period suggesting a timeframe ranging from the fifth to sixth centuries, with the possibility of an even earlier date in the fourth century.

Photo: The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum

The stone is inscribed on three of its four sides. The inscription on the stone, “Maldumcail/S/ Lass,” puzzled researchers, with interpretations pointing towards a version of the personal name Mael Dumcail, but the meaning of the S and LASS is unclear. Given the usual purpose and significance of ogham stones, it may be a location reference.

Theories regarding the origins of the stone abound, with speculations ranging from migration patterns to the presence of early medieval monasteries in the region.

The rock will be displayed at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, to which Senior has donated it permanently. It will feature in the forthcoming Collecting Coventry exhibition, which opens on 11 May.

Cover Photo: The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum

Related Articles

Early Imperial cemetery in Nîmes, in the south of France

4 October 2022

4 October 2022

Inrap archaeologists excavating at Nîmes in southern France have uncovered a cemetery dating to the first to second centuries AD...

Excavations at the ‘Westminster Abbey of Wales’ Yielded a Few Surprises: a lost Aqueduct and a Buried Celtic Treasure

12 March 2024

12 March 2024

Archaeologists working in Wales revealed recently they may have discovered a Celtic monastery at the site of a 12th-century Cistercian...

On the eastern shore of the Marmara Sea, off the coast of Yalova, a 1700-year-old Shipwreck was discovered

23 August 2023

23 August 2023

A 1700-year-old shipwreck was discovered during maritime police training dives in the province of Yalova, located on the east coast...

2500-year-old ship graffiti sheds light on the history of Izmir in western Turkey

9 March 2022

9 March 2022

In the Smyrna Agora, which is one of the largest ancient agora in the city center of the world and...

Archaeologists have discovered a large-sized 4,000-Year-Old steppe pyramid of the Bronze Age in Kazakhstan

10 August 2023

10 August 2023

Archaeologists of L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University discovered a massive Bronze Age steppe pyramid associated with a horse cult...

The Mystery of the Hekatompedon: An Ancient Shepherd’s Graffiti Sheds New Light on the Mystery of the Acropolis’ Lost Temple

13 June 2024

13 June 2024

The Acropolis of Athens and its monuments, the greatest architectural and artistic complex bequeathed to the world by ancient Greece,...

Archaeologists find 4 Umayyad epigraphs in the ancient city Knidos

24 May 2022

24 May 2022

Archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Knidos connected to Datça District of Muğla province in western Turkey have unearthed...

Ancient Roman Fast Food: Songbirds Were a Popular Snack in 1st-Century Mallorca

11 June 2025

11 June 2025

Roman fast food, ancient Roman cuisine, song thrush consumption, Roman street food, Mallorca archaeology, Pollentia findings, Roman bird bones, ancient...

Kashmir’s Forgotten Temple? Shivlings and Ancient Idols Found Beneath Sacred Spring

4 August 2025

4 August 2025

A routine restoration of the Karkoot Nag spring in the Salia area of Aishmuqam, Anantnag district, Jammu & Kashmir, has...

Aramaic four inscriptions found for the first time in eastern Turkey

17 September 2022

17 September 2022

Four inscriptions written in Aramaic were discovered in the ancient city with a grid plan, located on an area of...

Outrage in Türkiye: 3,000-Year-Old Unesco Tomb in Phrygian Valley Turned Into Café

1 July 2025

1 July 2025

A 3,000-year-old rock-cut tomb located in the historical Phrygian Valley—hailed as Türkiye’s “second Cappadocia” and listed on the UNESCO World...

1,500-Year-Old Sasanian Ossuary Inscription Discovered at Naqsh-e Rostam, Iran

13 August 2025

13 August 2025

Archaeologists have recently discovered a significant funerary inscription associated with an ossuary dating back to the late Sasanian period at...

The sword, thought to be a replica, turned out to be an authentic 3000-year-old Bronze Age sword

22 January 2023

22 January 2023

A sword in Chicago’s Field Museum that was previously thought to be a replica has been revealed to be an...

A 42,000-year-old pendant found in northern Mongolia may be the earliest known phallic art

20 June 2023

20 June 2023

An international team of researchers has found a pendant in northern Mongolia that may be the earliest known example of...

8000-year-old with balcony architectural structure belonging to the Prehistoric period found in Anatolia

31 October 2021

31 October 2021

During the excavations in Domuztepe mound, it was revealed that an architectural structure thought to be 7-8 thousand years old...