Ringbarrows in Ireland
An Irish ring barrow is a small, round mound of earth piled over a single burial, in use since the Neolithic , but usually a feature of the Bronze Age . Well-preserved structures (e.g., Glennagross, County Clare ) may have preserved moats and ramparts. Much of the Irish excavations took place in Galway , Limerick and Mayo counties (O'Riordain 1979, pp. 138-142).
Neolithic pottery comes from Ringbarrow Rathjordan, County Limerick . Two sites, near Ballingoola in County Limerick, produced ceramic finds from the transition to the Early Bronze Age, while Early Bronze Age sherds were found in Rathjordan near the Ringbarrow. Continuation of use of ring barrows during the Middle Bronze Age is evidenced by excavations in Lissard, County Limerick, Carrowjames, County Mayo and Carrowbeg, County Galway. In connection with the excavated facilities, cremations as well as burials were found, which belong to the previously dominant practice.
There are references to the use and presumably also the construction of ring barrows during the Iron Age . A ring barrow near Carrowjames, County Mayo, produced finds associated with the Iron Age. Iron was also found in a ring barrow in Pollacorragune, near Tuam , County Galway, that is referred to as "post-Bronze Age" (O'Riordain 1979, p. 140).
See also
literature
- FT Riley: Excavations in the Townland of Pollacorragune, Tuam, Co. Galway In: Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society Volume 17, No. 1/2 (1936), pp. 44-54