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| Newly Discovered Tomb, Dingle Photo: National Monuments Service, Ireland |
Growing up in Ireland in the
fifties and sixties, it was not unusual to read local newspaper reports of
archaeological discoveries by farmers draining the land or undertaking other
work. In those days much of the work was done by hand before JCBs became common
place. People like my father received a Government grant to drain a field which
often entailed digging up large pieces of bog oak. Many years later he would
receive another grant to plant the same field, effectively, putting the wood
back again.
The structure appears to consist
of one large chamber with a second chamber off it. Archaeologists from the
National Monument Services and the National Museum visited the site after being
alerted by the farmer. Experts say the grave is in its
original state and contains human remains, making it a unique archaeological
find. The site’s exact location has not been disclosed to ensure it remains
undisturbed.
“It is very well built, and a
lot of effort has gone into putting the large cap stone over it,” archaeologist
Mícheál Ó Coileáin told the Times. “It’s not a stone that was just found in
the ground. It seems to have some significance.”
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| Archaeologists from the National Monuments Service and the National Museum visited the site after being alerted by a farmer. Photo: Courtesy RTE |
Bronze Age
The tomb appears to be a
"cist" or chamber tomb, consisting of an underground stone-lined
structure built to contain one or several burials and capped with a large
stone. Typically, such burials date to the Bronze Age, commencing around 2500
B.C. Only the central part of the structure has been unearthed so far, so the
exact layout of the structure remains uncertain. However, what has been seen so
far appears different from other ancient tombs in the same area.
"Given its location,
orientation and the existence of the large slab your initial thought is this is
a Bronze Age tomb," Mícheál Ó Coileáin told
RTE. "But the design of this particular tomb is not like any of the
other Bronze Age burial sites we have here.”
Another possibility is that the structure may be a souterrain (underground chamber) associated with the early Christian period. The presence of several ring forts in the area supports this theory. Souterrains were used for storage or for shelter but further research will be required to establish who built this megalithic structure and when.
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| The newly discovered tomb seen from the south-west. Photo: National Monuments Service, Ireland |
Ancient Irish tombs
The Dingle Peninsula is home to
several wedge tombs dating back to the early Bronze Age. There have been
several impressive finds in mid-Kerry and the Tralee area in recent years,
indicating much older habitation than previously thought.
Ireland has thousands of ancient
monuments and tombs. The most famous is the passage tomb at Newgrange, beside
the River Boyne, which is aligned so that the rising midwinter sun shines down
its internal passage and illuminates a chamber deep within. Recent research
found that one of the Bronze Age people buried inside the Newgrange
tomb was the son of parents who were probably brother and sister - a
practice not uncommon in ancient royalty.
Newgrange is one of many tombs in
the area known as the Brú na Bóinne Neolithic cemetery, which is listed as a
World Heritage site by UNESCO. Megalithic tombs are to be found throughout
Ireland with concentrations in Co Sligo including Carrowmore and Carrowkeel cemeteries.
Some megalithic tombs date from more than 5,000 years ago, making them older
than both Stonehenge in England and the oldest pyramids in Egypt.
Conclusion
The Dingle stone structure is
believed to be an ancient tomb, possibly dating from the Bronze Age, although
this remains to be confirmed. The fact that it appears to be in its original
state and contains human remains and a hand-worked stone, makes it a unique
archaeological find. Further work will be required to establish the function of
the structure, who built it and when.
For further information see:
https://www.livescience.com/ancient-chamber-tomb-untouched-in-ireland.html
https://www.rte.ie/news/2021/0416/1210287-tombs-kerry-dingle-peninsula/
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