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| Listoghil Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery |
More than 6,000 years ago, the Stone Age peoples of Western Europe began to build stone monuments over their dead as tombs and ceremonial places. This was the beginning of what has become known as the megalithic tradition of the Neolithic period. In 2013, I wrote a blog post about Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery, Co. Sligo in Ireland. This is one of four major passage tomb cemeteries in Ireland, along with Carrowkeel, Brú na Bóinne and Loughcrew.
Approximately 60 such monuments are recorded in
the complex, but many others were destroyed by quarrying and agricultural
activities over the past two centuries. In 2019 archaeologists from IT Sligo,
led by Dr. Marion Dowd and Dr. James Bonsal, investigated one of the less known
monuments, classified in the Sites and Monuments Record as a barrow. They set
out to establish the date and nature of the monument and its relationship to
passage tombs within the complex.
Listoghil and Meascán Mhéabha
The largest monument in the cemetery is a cairn known as Listoghil. This monument is also notable for being the only one at the site that is known to have been decorated with megalithic art. It is also the only tomb in the cemetery where both cremations and inhumations have been found although cremation was the norm.
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| Inner Chamber Listoghil |
Archaeologists have found that the rest of the tombs were arranged in a roughly oval shape around Listoghil, suggesting that this may have been the focal point of the cemetery. Overlooking the complex to the west, is Knocknarea Mountain on the summit of which is the passage tomb of Meascán Mhéabha, otherwise known as Queen Maeve’s Grave. (Photo)
Latest Investigation
The monument investigated consists
of a broad, shallow ditch, circular in plan, with an overall external diameter
of approximately 20m. The ditch is 2.9m wide at the top and 0.8m deep. A layer
of densely packed stones formed the base along the north-eastern side. There
was no evidence of a bank either inside or outside the ditch. The excavation
revealed an inner circular, area approximately 8m in diameter, that consisted
of several overlapping deposits of stones.
The earlier identification of the
monument as a Bronze Age or Iron Age barrow has been revised in view of the
central circular deposit of stones and the absence of a bank. Various ideas
about what the monument represented were discounted based on the excavation
results and geophysical information. However, archaeologists concluded that it
was not a barrow and was almost certainly prehistoric in date. Whilst the
precise purpose of the monument remains unclear it was probably ritual/funerary
in nature.
Artefacts
The excavation did not produce
any animal bone, human bone, or charcoal fragments. Archaeologists found many prehistoric
tools known as cherts which were crucial to prehistoric societies. For example,
they would have been used for a variety of tasks, such as making baskets,
working bones, scraping hides and in the preparation of food. This area outside
the monument produced over 200 finds of post-medieval and modern date,
including shards of glass, potsherds, and clay pipe fragments.
Dating Evidence
Archaeologists believe that different
type of lithics and their condition represented multiple events and time
periods possibly from the Mesolithic through to the Bronze Age. Similar
material has been recovered from other sites in the Carrowmore complex. The
chert convex scrapers are like those found at Neolithic hut sites on Knocknarea
Mountain.
It was not possible to carry out radiocarbon
dating due to the lack of suitable organic material. Optically Stimulated
Luminescence (OSL) dating, which calculates when a sediment was last exposed to
sunlight, produced a date of 4050–2850 BC.
Conclusion
In the past, the focus of
archaeological research at Carrowmore has been on the passage tombs. This
recent work has produced a Neolithic date for what is an unclassified monument
located at the centre of an important megalithic cemetery. The lithics indicate
multiple periods of activity at the monument during the Neolithic, and possibly
also the Bronze Age. Researchers acknowledge that the ditch may not be
contemporaneous with the central stony area.
Earlier work by Stefan Bergh and
Robert Hensey’s produced 25 dates from monuments known as Carrowmore 3 and 55a,
revealing the Middle Neolithic as the principal period of use of these two
monuments. The OSL date from this excavation is consistent with this period.
Archaeologists believe that the
central location of the Neolithic circular ditched monument at Carrowmore
suggests that it was a site of significance within this highly ritualised
funerary landscape. It is one of a small number of monuments on the elevated
plateau which also commands impressive views of the huge passage tombs of Listoghil
and Meascán Mhéabha.
The excavation failed to find
evidence of a boulder circle or a central structure such as a dolmen or cist. Several
aspects of the site bear a resemblance to features of the passage tombs
excavated by Burenhult. Deposits of densely packed stone were noted at several
passage tombs, occurring between the outer circle of boulders and the central
chamber.
For more information see:
The Carrowmore Conundrum Author(s): Marion Dowd and
James Bonsall Source: Archaeology Ireland. Vol. 34, No. 1 (Spring 2020), pp.
21-25 Published by: Wordwell Ltd.
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7447788106874258351/5663729884492012271
https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/mysterious-monument-carrowmore-0012143
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dwfsrfvKo0
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