Portal Tomb from Doogort West
The portal Tomb of Doogort West (also called Giant's Grave) is located on the lower southern slope of Slievemore , east of Dooagh , in the townland of Doogort West ( Irish Dumha Goirt Thiar ) on the northern half of Achill Island in County Mayo in Ireland . In the British Isles, portal tombs are megalithic systems in which two upright stones of the same height with a door stone in between form the front of a chamber that is covered with a sometimes huge capstone.
The Tomb portal is located on a small platform next to a field wall. The slipped capstone is approximately 2.7 m long, 2.35 m wide and 0.35 m thick and lies south of the structure. The western of the two portal stones is 2.3 m high and stands upright, while the other is 2.0 m long and lies in the northeast. The western side stone stands while the eastern one leans against the western one. The end stone is located in the 2.8 m long chamber at the entrance 2.5 m wide. A small, half-open door stone lies in front of the entrance in the north.
Research history
Achill Island's antiquities became known in 1838 when the area was mapped out. Around the same time Caesar Otway (1780–1842) mentioned a number of monuments in "A Tour in Connaught". William Gregory Wood-Martin (1847–1917) later describes no fewer than eleven sites on the island as megalithic. The authoritative work on the topic is the survey by Ruaidhrí de Valera (1916–1978) and Sean Ó Nualláin (1926–2006) from 1950, who identified four locations. Others previously named are either not megalithic or could not be found. Some have probably been destroyed in the meantime. The surviving monuments, three court tombs and a portal tomb are badly disturbed and not easy to find.
See also
literature
- Peter Harbison : Pre-christian Ireland - From the first Settlers to the early Celts . London 1988, ISBN 0-500-27809-1 .
Web links
Description Engl. and picture description engl. and pictures description engl. and picture
Coordinates: 53 ° 59 '59.9 " N , 10 ° 3' 36.2" W.
