Introduction
Fig. 1 Knockcurraghbola Commons TN039-009 by Derek Ryan
This
essay will investigate the construction of wedge tombs during the Chalcolithic
period c. 2500 – 2000 BC. It will examine possible reasons for this resurgence
in building. It will compare and contrast the location and size of the wedge
tombs at Roughan Hill, Co. Clare & this essay study area; the Kilcommon
group of Co. Tipperary.
Wedge
tombs are simple stone tombs which consist of a narrow gallery with a
characteristic narrowing and lowering at the back. The gallery can be divided
by a septal-stone into a short front chamber known as a portico. They have a
consistent orientation on the western and south-western horizon and they seem
to be orientated to where the sun sets in the colder and darker months of
winter. Jones (2007, 223) postulates that they are aligned in this direction to
“incorporate the symbolic dichotomy of light and life versus darkness and
death” and towards a possible land of the dead.
There
is evidence generally of repeated activities at these tombs and insertions
within them such as cremated and inhumated remains. Probable votive offerings
within tombs are often found such as at Altar in Co. Cork (Waddell, 1998, 98)
and possible metal offerings around tombs such as at Lough Gur, Co. Limerick
(Jones et al, 2015, 5). Wedge tombs
are often located close to contemporary settlements such as at Lough Gur in Co.
Limerick (Jones, 1997, 230) and Roughan Hill in Co. Clare (Jones et al, 2015, 5).
During
the period that wedge tomb building arose a number of events were happening
externally to Ireland.
Resurgence of megalithism
In
this period Ireland was integrated into far flung exchange networks with the
rest of Europe (Jones et al, 2015,
3). It is best evidenced by the finds of beaker pottery from Western Europe at
sites in Western Ireland such as at Roughan Hill (Jones et al, 2015, 16).
During
this period metal working is also likely to have begun in Ireland. In Co. Kerry
there is extensive evidence of mineral extraction at Ross Island. Minerals from
this and other mines were worked into various items which have been found in a
number of wedge tomb contexts such as at Lough Gur, Co. Limerick.
How
these new ideas or technologies came to Ireland is not completely clear. Jones et al (2015, 3) states that “As know-how
and ideas could only move as far as people could carry them, the transfer of
metallurgical knowledge to Ireland implies human mobility. The scale and nature
of this mobility are issues which are still being debated.” As such, during
this period there is likely to have been population movement and / or
population growth.
These
factors may have challenged the existing Neolithic social systems and lead to a
period of instability within society.
It
has been theorised that megalith building is linked to periods of change.
Therefore since the last phase of construction of megaliths in Ireland (the
passage tombs) there may have been a period of stability of up to 600 years. It
is possible that these new ideas may have led to either the old elite or a new
elite having to legitimise their claim to social status by building megaliths
and re-evoking the ancestors.
Jones et al (2015, 8) states "It seems that when mortuary rituals were emphasized, it is often because the ancestors are called upon to legitimize social statuses that may be open to challenge, whether the statuses open to challenge are traditional or newly conceived. This may occur in context of changing ideologies, changes in the status system, or both".
If
status’s were not fixed as they had been for generations, this may have resulted
in social competition and this could be one reason for the variation in size of
the wedge tombs.
It
may be that due to possible social instability, the building of wedge tombs was
a demonstration of collective effort. The construction may have brought the
group together and they were possibly directed by a group leader. This would
help demonstrate the older social structures and perhaps reinforce the status
of a group leader.
Recent
ethnographical studies in West Sumba in Indonesia have shown similar findings
to this. In West Sumba, findings as to why they currently build similar
structures include “establishing long-lasting physical links to specific
locales, maintaining relationships with dead ancestors, and fostering group
solidarity amongst the living, the most important factor motivating people to
build megalithic tombs is the acquisition of power.” (Jones et al, 2015, 10).
In
West Sumba tombs are located at a Clan’s ancestral village. Larger tombs show
that the builder of the tomb is wealthy and prominent and also that the Clan of
the deceased interred within is important. There is competition for status with
other clans in the area. (Jones et al,
2015, 15).
In
‘Monuments, Landscape and Identity in Chalcolithic Ireland’ the authors examine
the significance of Roughan Hill in the context of the wedge tombs in Co.
Clare.
Roughan Hill
Roughan
Hill is located in the south-east of the limestone area known as the Burren in
Co. Clare. It is at a topographical and ecological divide between the lowlands
of the River Fergus and the limestone uplands of the Burren. It is the
southernmost of a serious of hills running in south-west to north-east
direction. The soils are thin rendzinas and areas of bare bedrock are exposed
in places but the soil cover is generally better than in other parts of the
upland Burren (Jones et al, 2015, 15).
Its altitude is just over 130m and its southern slope drops steeply to the
River Fergus, approx. 100m below the crest of the hill.
Within
Co. Clare and Ireland it has the densest concentration of wedge tombs in the
country. It is near the convergence of route ways in the area. To the south is the
head of the River Fergus. This links it to the Shannon Estuary and west to the Atlantic
and east via the River Shannon into the middle of Ireland. It is also near
where two natural land routes from the east meet and begin north into the
Burren.
Wedge
tombs are not the earliest monuments in the vicinity of Roughan Hill and there
are thought to be four earlier monuments including nearby Parknabinnia
court-tomb. Other monuments from the Chalcolithic include a number of cairns.
On
Roughan Hill a number of contemporary habitation enclosures have been
identified very close to wedge-tombs. However more wedge-tombs than enclosures
have been identified in a ratio of roughly 3:1 (Jones et al, 2015, 20). Using inferences from West Sumba, where one wedge
tomb equates to one clan, the paper discusses whether this means the hill is of
ritual importance to a wider population and may have a regionally significant
location in a ritual sense.
The
following chart shows the length in metres of the wedge tombs on Roughan Hill
and compares them with County Clare in general. The wedge tombs from Roughan
Hill are in dark grey.
Fig. 2 by Jones et al (2015, 10)
Kilcommon group area
Fig. 3 – Kilcommon group
wedge tombs by National Monuments Service
There are
twelve existing wedge tombs and one recorded but now destroyed wedge tomb
within 8km of the village of Kilcommon, Co. Tipperary. De Valera & Ó’Nualláin
describe them as the ‘Kilcommon group’ and state that they are “clustered
around Mauherslieve or Mother Mountain (543m)” (De Valera & Ó’Nualláin,
1982, 113). There is also one court-tomb to the south of Baurnadomeeny at
Shallyballyedmond. To the north-west is the Silvermine Mountains and Keeper
Hill and to the south-west the Slieve Felims. To the south is Knockastanna and
Gortnageragh Hill and to the east Ring Hill and Knocklough. So we can see this
is a mountainous upland area.
Fig. 4 Baurnadomeeny TN038-009 by Derek Ryan
The tombs vary
in altitude between 215m to 335m above sea-level. The soils in the area are
principally Peaty Podzols and Acid Brown Earths and most of the tombs are
located on “well-drained pasture land, on hills or slopes, above the deeper
soils in the valleys of the rivers and streams emanating from the watershed
area around Mauherslieve Mountain.” (De Valera & Ó’Nualláin, 1982, 113).
Most of this
pasture is reclaimed from bog land but it may be that it was originally pasture
land during the Chalcolithic, turned into bog land following the construction
of the tombs and was reclaimed back to pasture in modern times.
Fig. 5 Curreeny Commons TN033-025
by Derek Ryan
Copper deposits
have been found around the Kilcommon group area. There was a copper mine at
near-by Lackamore (approx. 6km to the west of Baurnadomeeny) that was exploited
as late as the 1960s. De Valera & Ó’Nualláin state that “extensive
"old men'sworkings' were noted at the Lackamore mine (Jukes, Kinahan and
Wynn 1860, 36)”. They also propose that stone mauls found in the district may
have been of a similar date to ones found at Bronze Age copper mines at Mount
Gabriel in Cork. (De Valera & Ó’Nualláin, 1982, 113).
There are two
further wedge tombs outside our study area to the north of the Kilcommon group.
One at Cooleen is 3km from another copper mine at Ballynoe and the other at
Lackamore (this is a different townland to where the copper mines are located)
looks on to the River Shannon. De Valera & Ó’Nualláin (1982, 114) state
that “The River Shannon flows between the north Tipperary tombs and the
concentrations in east Clare (Vol .1) and, together with its tributaries, would
have offered obvious and convenient routes inland which may have been availed
of by the tomb-builders.” It is possible that these two tombs (Cooleen &
Lackamore) were links on the route from the large concentration of wedge-tombs
in Clare and the Kilcommon group of tombs.
As we can see
in figure 3 the tombs are located in the vicinity of the current route ways
through the mountain area from north-south (R497) & east-west (R503). A
number of rivers rise in the highlands in the Kilcommon group area and flow in
all directions from this area. (E.g. The Mulcaire River flows west from the
area of Curreeny Commons to the River Shannon).
Compare & contrast
Roughan Hill with the Kilcommon group.
Both
are in areas with older monuments, Shanballyedmond court tomb is in the
Kilcommon group area and Parknabinnia the Roughan Hill area.
Both
are in upland areas.
Both
seem to be in areas where land and water route ways converge.
To
date there is no evidence of settlement enclosures in the Kilcommon group area.
We
can see from the following graph that there are significant differences in the
size of the wedge tombs in the Kilcommon group versus Roughan Hill (See
Appendix I for back-up).
Fig. 6 Comparison of length of wedge tombs in the
Kilcommon group versus Roughan Hill by Derek Ryan
The
largest tomb on Roughan Hill is in the range of 4.6 - 4.7 metres in length.
However in the Kilcommon group area the largest tomb is in the range of 7.2 -
7.3 metres in length. This is in the same range as the largest tomb in all of
County Clare.
In
the Kilcommon group there are four tombs between the sizes of 6.8 - 7.3 metres.
Jones
(2014) suggests that wedge-tombs in the 3m range would require the extended
family coming together to build it. Wedge tombs between 4.0 - 4.5m would
require members of a larger lineage. For the wedge-tombs of over 7m he suggests
they would require a work force on a large regional scale. At Roughan Hill only
the first two sizes are represented while in the Kilcommon group all three are
and this suggests differing circumstances in their construction.
There
is a large difference in the number of the smaller tombs between 2.0 and 4.9
metres. On Roughan Hill there are 14 wedge-tombs while in the Kilcommon group
there are only 6 wedge-tombs.
Discussion
/ Conclusion
We
have reviewed some of the possible reasons for the resurgence of megalithism in
the Chalcolithic period, namely that outside social pressures may have led to
the requirement to reassert social status by the construction of wedge-tombs.
We
examined the location of the wedge-tombs on Roughan Hill & in the Kilcommon
group and found that both were located in upland areas and in the vicinity of
both land and possible water routes.
We
established that both areas were located in the vicinity of early monuments
dating to the early Neolithic and that both had Neolithic court-tombs in the
area.
We
calculated that four of the wedge-tombs were of a greater length in the
Kilcommon group than those at the Roughan Hill and as such a larger regional
workforce may have been required to build them.
Fig. 7 Loughbrack
TN039-014 by Derek Ryan
Further Study
To
date no settlement enclosures have been recorded in the area of the Kilcommon
group. It is likely through further surveying that there should be settlements
in the vicinity of the wedge-tombs in the area as have been found at Roughan
Hill.
A
nodal map of the four wedge-tombs of over 6.8m in the Kilcommon group could be
suggestive that each of these wedge tombs were localised individual ancestral
settlements similar to Roughan Hill. The author recommends further study to
ascertain whether this hypothesis is correct (See Appendix II).
Bibliography
De Valera, R. & Ó’Nualláin, S., 1982, Survey of the
Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Vol. 4, Counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and
Tipperary. Dublin, The Stationary Office.
Farrelly, J. & O’Brien, C., 2002, Archaeological
Inventory of County Tipperary Vol. I – North Tipperary. Dublin, The Stationary
Office.
Jones, C. 2003. Neolithic Beginnings on Roughan Hill and
the Burren. In I. Armit, E. Murphy, E. Nelis and D. Simpson (eds) Neolithic
Settlement in Ireland and Western Britain,188-94. Oxford, Oxbow Books.
Jones, C.,
2007, Temple of Stone, Exploring the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland, Cork, Collins
Press.
Jones, C. 2014, "Why
Build A Wedge Tomb Here? A Study Of Monuments, Landscape And Identity Around
2000Bc", Presentation, NUIG Galway, 21 March.
Jones, C., McVeigh, T. & Ó’Maoldúin, R., 2015,
Monuments, Landscape and Identity in Chalcolithic Ireland, In Springs, D. (ed.) Landscape and Identity:Archaeology and
Human Geography, 3 – 26. Oxford. BAR, International Series 2709.
Waddell, J., 1998, The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland,
Galway, Galway University Press.
Appendix
I
Lengths
of wedge-tombs in Kilcommon group of Tipperary. Only 10 of the 13 have remains
that the length can be measured.
|
Kilcommon Group Wedge Tomb lengths
|
|
Taken from Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary
Vol. I – North Tipperary
|
m
|
|
Foilnamuck
|
4.6
|
|
Cureeny Commons
|
7
|
|
Rearnogy More
|
2.7
|
|
Baurnadomeeny
|
7.2
|
|
Knocknabansha
|
2.1
|
|
Knockmaroe
|
Not measurable
|
|
Knockcurraghbola Commons
|
7
|
|
Loughbrack
|
6.8
|
|
Knockcurraghbola Commons
|
4.2
|
|
Knockcurraghbola Commons
|
Not measurable
|
|
Knockshanbrittas
|
3.7
|
|
Knockshanbrittas
|
3.2
|
|
Foilycleary
|
Not measurable
|
Appendix
II – Nodal Map of the four large wedge tombs as possible ancestral settlements.
