I'm really not sure - going by the drawing in the PSAS, it is extremely altar shaped, except for what appear to be the cup-marks in the top. which look extremely cup-mark-ish. I think it would be unusual for the Romans to go to the bother of carving an altar out of an already cup-marked stone (wouldn't it?) as the top would be far from perfect. however, could it be the case (like building churches on the sites of stone circles) of superceding a sacred object (a cup-marked stone) with something sacred to someone else (the Romans and their altar)?
certainly WA Donnelly writes in the PSAS:
"Apart from all conjectures as to its historic associations, the stone seemed to me to be chiefly interesting on account of the cup-markings on its upper surface. It is not a cup- and ring-marked stone, but some of its cups have unmistakable ducts leading from them, one of which is very deep. The two larger cups are about 8 inches in diameter and 4 inches in depth; the two smaller have no ducts, and do not exceed 3 inches in diameter. Most of those who have visited the stone, I believe, regard it as a Roman altar, but I have not been able to find any explanation of the cups upon the top, which are certainly not usual accompaniments of a Roman altar. Could they have been upon the stone before it was made into an altar?"
and just clear up any confusion over the two different Carrick Stones:
"Having been asked whether the stone was called after the farm of Carrickstone, on which it stands, or whether the farm had received its name from the presence of this particular stone, I revisited Dullatur and procured some further information. It seems that the present generation has confused this stone with another which was formerly called the Carrick Stone. The latter was a large slab, which lay horizontally on the ground at the foot of a field about 200 yards in a direct line from the front door of Carrickstone farm-house, and at the base of the slope of the field. This stone, as described to me, was a rudely dressed slab of freestone, having inscribed on its surface, in large and boldly incised letters, the one word CARRICK, and the local tradition said that it marked the grave of a noted Covenanter who was killed and buried here."
Cheers
Andy S
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