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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Dalya Alberge

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

Ogham stone
The ogham stone, 11cm long and weighing 139g, was found in an overgrown garden. Photograph: The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum

A geography teacher was tidying his overgrown garden at his home in Coventry when he stumbled across a rock with mysterious incisions. Intrigued, he sent photographs to a local archaeologist and was taken aback to learn that the markings were created more than 1,600 years ago and that the artefact was worthy of a museum.

The rectangular sandstone rock that Graham Senior had discovered was inscribed in ogham, an alphabet used in the early medieval period primarily for writing in the Irish language.

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