Aghmakane megaliths
The Aghmakane megaliths are probably the remains of a portal tomb , essentially consisting of two menhirs about three meters high, one meter wide and about 30 cm thick , which are at right angles to each other and form part of the portal or the closure plate of a megalithic complex. The second portal stone must be the broken stone, the rest of which is one meter high. One of the other large stones is likely the broken part of the portal stone. This was intact the tallest portal in Northern Ireland . The facility is a Scheduled Monument .
The townland Aghmakane ( Irish Achadh Mhic Catháin ) is not far from the Slieve Gullion , west of Newry and Camlough, in County Armagh behind an old farmhouse, on the edge of a small ruined and overgrown cashel about 30.0 m in diameter, whose stone wall, up to a height of about one meter is preserved.
Inside the wall are some large panels that can be part of the dolmen . The other stones are not easy to explain. When in situ , Aghmakane is not a simple Portal Tomb. If they are postponed, anything is possible. An excavation would have to clarify the nature of the monument.
Portal tombs date from the Irish Neolithic (3000 to 2000 BC) and occur in Ireland as well as in Cornwall and Wales . Their chambers are relatively small, as many systems are built with very massive blocks.
See also
literature
- Kenneth McNally: Standing Stones and other monuments of early Ireland . Appletree, Belfast 1984, ISBN 0-86281-121-X .
Web links
- Brief description engl. and pictures
- Stone Monuments in the Slieve Gullion aera
- Description Engl. and pictures
Coordinates: 54 ° 9 ′ 57.4 " N , 6 ° 26 ′ 14.7" W.