Ballynamona Lower

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photo-request.svg
 Image wanted 
BW

The Court Tomb of Ballynamona Lower locally as " Caille Bhéarra's House known", is the southernmost of its kind in Ireland and the only one in County Waterford . It is located 100 m from the coast and 1.6 km north of the Mine Head lighthouse in the townland of Ballynamona Lower ( Irish Baile na Móna Íochtarach ). Ballynamona Lower's Court Tomb is one of just half a dozen properties south of an east-west line from Dundalk to Galway . The facility is listed under the name “ Dolmen ” on the Ordnance Survey map. Court Tombs are among the megalithic chamber tombs ( English chambered tombs ) of the British Isles . With around 400 specimens, they are found almost exclusively in Ulster in the north of Ireland or in Northern Ireland .

Forms of Court Tombs

context

Neolithic farmers established from 3500 BC BC in Ireland megalithic systems , including the Court Tomb of Ballynamona Lower. Court tombs are collective graves for up to 20 and more burials. The burned bones were sometimes placed in the up to eight chambers with additions such as ceramics, pearls and stone tools. Some archaeologists see the Court Tomb as the earliest form of Irish megalithic tombs , but today it is more likely that they originated in the Middle Neolithic.

description

Ballynamona Lower was excavated in 1938 by Thomas George Eyre Powell (1916–1975). Since it had already been robbed of many stones, the size could no longer be determined. The chambers had been ransacked by treasure hunters. Only a few fragments of decorated ceramics, numerous flint cuts and a small stone disk made of fine-grain old-red sandstone are artefacts that come from the population at the time. Similar, but larger, panes are known from the gallery graves of Brittany , Scotland ( South Clettraval ), Wales and County Wicklow . Due to their shape and decoration, the fragments of a pot found here can be assigned to those that also appear in Portal Tombs . Since the portal tombs were once thought to be much younger than the court tombs, it was initially assumed that this pot was only later buried behind the orthostat that forms the end of the court tomb. But the find started the discussion about whether the court and portal tombs were not created at the same time.

The approximately 10.0 m long cairn was only about 5.5 m long on both sides of the chamber fixed by curb stones. A small fireplace was found on the south side of the forecourt, on which there were four posts. The gallery, made up of two chambers, is around 3.3 m long and 1.55 m wide. It is made up of five orthostats, two in the north, two in the south and one in the east. The entrance opening at the west end is 46 cm wide. Originally the chambers were covered by two or three plates. The excavators found Chamber A disturbed, as shown by a pit sunk in the ground, probably dug by a treasure hunter. Some flint fragments were found in this area . Some artifacts and a small amount of burned bone were noted in Chamber B. The ground was disturbed here too.

The Court Tomb of Ballynamona Lower dates from the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age and is evidence of the settlement of the region later known as the "Old Parish of An Sean Phobal", in which the complex is located, by a developed farming community. Other clues to the settlement of Waterford during this period are the megalithic tombs of Gaulstown , Matthewstown and Ballynageeragh , around Tramore . While this facility was still in use, the Neolithic era ended. Finds in County Waterford show that copper was mined at Bonmahon in the Early Bronze Age and there is evidence that a bronze foundry existed on the edge of Knockmon Moor to the west of Dungarvan .

See also

literature

  • Thomas George Eyre Powell : Excavation of a megalithic tomb at Ballynamona Lower, County Waterford. In: The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Seventh Series, 8, 2, pp. 260-271, December 31, 1938 (excavation report)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cailleach Bhéarra (the witch of Beare), is a female deity in Irish and Scottish tradition. The Beara Peninsula is named after her. The original pagan conception interacted with the Christian one from the 9th century. In the 11th century poem: "Lamentations of the old woman Beare", a nun laments her past youth, but the traces of a connection with the pagan goddess are clear.
  2. ^ TGE Powell: Excavation of a megalithic tomb at Ballynamona Lower, County Waterford. In: The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Seventh Series, 8, 2, pp. 260-271, December 31, 1938, p. 260 facsimile at JSTOR
  3. ^ Adriaan von Müller, Gerdt Kutscher, Stephan Waetzoldt, Wilhelm Stegmann, Wolf-Dieter Dube, Wilfried Menghin, Matthias Wemhoff (eds.): Acta praehistorica et archaeologica. Issues 5–6, Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory, Bruno Hessling Verlag, 1975, p. 82.
  4. ↑ Michael Herity, George Eogan: Ireland in prehistory. Routledge Chapman & Hall 1989, ISBN 0-415-04889-3 , p. 90.

Web links

Coordinates: 52 ° 0 ′ 10.6 "  N , 7 ° 34 ′ 55.3"  W.