Drumena Cashel
The Drumena Cashel is located between Castlewellan and Kilcoo , on a hill above the Lough Island Reavy water reservoir, in County Down in Northern Ireland . It is an oval stone fort, 40 by 32 m in diameter, reconstructed on the basis of the excavation results in the mid-1920s, which is based on the findings from the early Christian period (5th-11th centuries).
description
The surrounding dry stone wall is 2.7 to 3.6 m thick and over two meters high. Its outer and inner visible surfaces were built from smooth stones, which are larger in the lower area. The wall core, on the other hand, consists of rolling stones . At the edge of the oval is a small, roughly T-shaped basement made of dry stone walls and a flat ceiling made of stone slabs. Some remains of the foundations that could be part of a building are also preserved inside.
context
Cashels are also known regionally on the Irish island as Caher, Cathair or Dun or more generally as Steinfort (English Stonefort). They are mostly round, irregular but often oval enclosures. Their dating and function is similar to that of the Raths, which consist of trenches and earth walls . They are very rarely enclosed by trenches. While Raths occur in the other regions, the Cashels occur where trenches are difficult to dig but stone material is available.
Time position
The facilities were built from the Iron Age to the early Christian period. There are almost 40,000 of these or structurally similar enclosures on the island. They look similar to modern animal enclosures, but the walls are much thinner and made of regular stones. Their importance lies in the cultic or social area.
Cashel is also the name of a place in County Tipperary . See Rock of Cashel .
The stone box
The Drumena Stone Chest lies east of the center of a small, circular cairn . Its approximately 20 cm thick rectangular capstone has been moved to the side and gives a view of the approximately 60 cm deep box.
Other examples
Northern Ireland
- the small (only 15 m wide) Altagore Cashel (also Altagore Dun) near Cushendun (in County Antrim )
- the triple concentric walled Nendrum in Co. Down
- the “White Fort” called Cashel (also with a basement) near Drumaroad in Co. Down also hid the remains of a stone and an adobe building.
Republic of Ireland
In the Republic of Ireland there are stone forts whose masonry is significantly higher and wider and a .:
See also
literature
- Matthew Stout : The Irish Ringfort (= Irish Settlement Studies. No. 5). Four Courts Press et al., Dublin 1997, ISBN 1-85182-300-X .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Drumena Megalithic Cist ( English ) irishantiquities.bravehost.com. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
Coordinates: 54 ° 14 ′ 18 ″ N , 5 ° 59 ′ 23 ″ W.