Drombeg stone circle
The Drombeg Stone Circle (also called "The Druid's Altar" ) is a stone circle from the Cork-Kerry series . It is located in the townland of Drombeg ( Irish An Drom Beag ) 2.4 km east of Glandore in the Civil parish Kilfaughnabeg ( Irish Cill Fachna Bheag ), Barony Carbery East ( Irish Cairbrigh Thoir ) in County Cork in Ireland . Drombeg is now one of the most visited megalithic sites in Ireland and one of the best preserved stone circles. The site is freely accessible and has information boards.
The stone circle with a diameter of more than nine meters consists of 17 stones standing close together, one of which is flat ( recumbent stone ). It is sometimes referred to as the "offering table".
Investigations by Boyle Somerville (1863-1936) in 1923 showed that the extension of the axis between the two, known as portal stones , almost two meter high menhirs in the northeast over the lying stone to a nearby hill in the southwest. This orients the facility in the direction of the winter solstice.
The facility was scientifically excavated and restored by Edward M. Fahy in 1957 and 1958. During this work, a pot with the burned bones of a young person wrapped in a thick cloth was found in the middle of the circle. The radiocarbon dating revealed that he lived at the beginning of the first millennium BC.
About 40 m west of the circle are the remains of two round huts connected by walls, which were probably used in the 5th century AD. The larger one had a wooden roof and the smaller one had a kitchen with a smokehouse on the east side.
A path led from there to an excavated burnt mound with a fireplace, well and a trough in which water is said to have been heated.
literature
- Seán Ó Nualláin: Stone Circles in Ireland. Country House, Dublin, 1995 ISBN 0946172455
- Anthony F. Aveni (Ed.): World Archaoastronomy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989, pp. 470-482
- Aubrey Burl: A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1995, pp. 218-219
- Clive NL Ruggles: Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1999, pp. 100-101
Individual evidence
- ^ Clive NL Ruggles: Ancient Astronomy. ABC-Clio Inc., 2005, pp. 135-136
- ↑ EM Fahy: A recumbent stone circle at Drombeg, Co. Cork. Journal of the Cork Archaeological and Historical Society (JCHAS) 64, pp. 1-27, 1959
- ^ EM Fahy: A hut and cooking place at Drombeg, Co. Cork. Journal of the Cork Archaeological and Historical Society (JCHAS) 65, pp. 1-17, 1960
- ^ Andrew Halpin and Conor Newman: Ireland: An Oxford Archaeological Guide to Sites from Earliest Times to AD 1600. Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 512
Web links
- The Megalithic Portal: Drombeg (last accessed December 10, 2012)
- Aerial photo of stone circle and burnt mound (last accessed on December 10, 2012)
- Megalithic Ireland: Images of the stone circle (last accessed December 10, 2012)
- Megalithomania: Sketch and pictures of Drombeg ( Memento from May 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (last accessed on December 10, 2012)
- Panorama shot of Drombeg
- photos
Coordinates: 51 ° 33 '52.4 " N , 9 ° 5' 13.3" W.