Dunalis

The basement of Dunalis ( Irish Dún Oilí Uachtarach ) is in the west of Coleraine ( Irish Cúil Raithin ) in County Londonderry in Northern Ireland west of the "Portstewart Reservoir"; a small reservoir. In the case of basements, a basic distinction is made between "rock-cut", "earth-cut", "stone built" and "mixed" basements.

description

It is of the "drystone built" type, consisting of chambers with cross aisles and niches made of dry stone , which are connected by means of slips. Today's access runs vertically downwards. The original is below the water level of the reservoir. The excavation of the basement in 1934 showed that it is T-shaped in plan. Today only the long, straight, barely articulated outer section (chamber 1) with a side niche is accessible.

The three other chambers (2-4) lie on an approximately straight west-east oriented line over 20 m long. Near the end of chambers 2 and 3 there are short bends behind which the chambers are divided by slips. At the beginning of chamber 3 there is a long cross passage that has been filled. Ceramic shards from basement goods were found here.

A lintel stone in the ceiling of Chamber 2 is an Ogham stone with the inscription BROCAGNI MAQI MU [COI], which indicates that the basement was created in early Christian times via the date of origin of its genus.

See also

• Basement in Ireland

literature

• Mark Clinton: The Souterrains of Ireland. Wordwell, Bray Co. Wicklow 2001, ISBN 1-869857-49-6 .
• AW Lindsay: The Dunalis Souterrain and Ogham Stone. In: Proceedings and Reports of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society. 1934/1935, ISSN  0067-5350 , pp. 61-70 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ In archeology, basement is the name given to some very complex prehistoric underground structures, some of which were made of stone

Web links

• Description Engl. and pictures (last accessed on December 11, 2012)

Coordinates: 55 ° 6 ′ 59.5 ″  N , 6 ° 44 ′ 24 ″  W.