By Orla O’ Connor and Marina Ancos Question: Discuss and Explain the Development of Megalithic tombs building within the

context of the Wedge Shape Gallery Grave at Lough Gur

Who were the Stone Age people? They first came to Ireland around 7000 B.C. They travel around hunting and fishing animals

and gathering wild foods. They wore clothes made of animal skins. They farmed and cultivate

the land for food, and build permanent dwellings in which to live, and graves in which they

buried the dead. Some of these structures still remain in the form of the passage graves.

At first they lived mainly along the coast of Ireland or near rivers because

they were hunters. They mainly ate berries, fruit, and wild animals and

moved from place to place. From about 3500 BC the Stone Age people

began to clear away forests to make farmland.

The Stone Age went on for a very long time and many changes took place. We therefore call the

Stone Age people by different names depending on when they lived during this long period of time.

o The earliest part of the Stone Age is called the Paleolithic

o The middle part of the Stone Age it is called the Mesolithic

o The end of the Stone Age is called the Neolithic

Megalithic tombs 1. Court-tombs 2. Portal-tombs 3. Passage- tombs

4. Wedge-tombs

1. Court tomb They consisted of a segmented stone

chamber covered by an earthen

mound, with an entrance courtyard

that almost invariably faces east.

2. Portal Tombs They consist of three or more vertical stones on top

of which are perched one or two huge capstones.

The capstones always lean down towards one side,

leaving a large opening at the high end.

Many of them have collapsed.

The best examples are to be found in the

Carlingford Lough area of counties down and Louth.

3. Passage Tombs They were built by later Neolithic settlers, probably from

western France, and tend to be architecturally more

adventurous than court or portal tombs.

The passage is made from large vertical stones with flat

stones laid across them and then covered in soil.

The roof of the central chamber tapers in a cone shape and

there can be other chambers leading off it.

The most celebrated example is Newgrange, county Meath

(see below). Perhaps the most interesting feature of

passage tombs is their art. Stones both inside and outside

them are decorated with swirls, chevrons, eye-motifs etc.

4. Wedge Tombs The Burren is one of the richest areas in Ireland

for wedge tombs.

There are around 70 megalithic tombs

The wedge tomb is the most common type of

megalith

There are many more wedge tombs around the Burren including those at Cappaghkennedy, Poulaphuca, lissylisheen and believed to be the finest example at Derrynavahag.

1. Court Tombs

2. Portal Tombs

3. Passage Tombs

4. Wedge tombs

Lough Gur Archaeology & History Lough Gur has been a place of continuous habitation for at least 5,500 years since the arrival of the Neolithic people and represents in

microcosm of each of the different ages throughout Irish History.

Lough Gur/Stone Age

Megalithic Tomb Locally known as “The Giants Grave”.

It is a wedge shape gallery and dates to circa 2,500 B.C

This includes passage tombs, portal dolmens and court cairns.

There are 2 chambers

1. Main chamber

2. Porticoe

Main Chamber- Is covered with four cap stones. The finds consisted of human bones (both

inhumed and cremated) cattle and pig bones, fragments of pottery including food vessels and some

flints. A remarkable ox burial was found just outside the main chamber. It has been suggested that it

represents a votive offering. It was one used as a home/ Shelter for an elderly impoverished woman.

Porticoe- is a porch leading to the entrance of the tomb, with a roof structure over a walkway,

supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used and has influenced many

cultures, including most Western cultures.

1. Circles 2. Spirals 3. Serpentiform 5. Dot in circle

4. Arcs or crescents 1. Chevrons or zigzags

2. Lozenges

3. Star shape or radial (with central dot)

4. Parallel lines

5. Offset or comb device