Newtownstewart Stone Chest

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photo-request.svg
 Image wanted 
BW

The Early Bronze Age stone box of Newtownstewart was found in 1999 a few meters west of the old castle ruins of the Stewarts (Stewart Castle) in the village of Newtownstewart ( Irish An Baile Nua ) in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland . It is one of the very rare two-part long boxes that lay undisturbed in an oval pit. Her capstone weighed about 250 kg. Newtownstewart is north of Omagh on a loop of the Strule River. The location above a river is typical for boxes from the Irish Bronze Age .

Stewart Castle - where the stone chest was found

The chambers of different sizes contained the cremated bone fragments of a woman at least 40 years old and a 12 to 15 year old child. The investigation revealed that the cremation must have taken place at temperatures of more than 650 ° C. A decorated vessel and a calcined arrowhead made of flint were found as accessories .

A 1997 study by C. Mount of over 200 Early Bronze Age burials in southeastern Ireland, including 23 double burials, identified the remains in such facilities as those of high-ranking individuals. The analysis of the double burials showed in twelve cases that two adults were buried, in 11 cases one adult was buried together with a child. C. Mount notes that in this selection, which should not be regarded as representative, male adults were more frequently combined with children than female ones. In light of this, Newtownstewart complements the combination of women with children. Another "Long Cist" studied is that of Fakeeragh near Clifden , County Galway .

See also

literature

  • Erin Gibbons: A long cist at Fakeeragh, Clifden, Co. Galway. In: Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society. Vol. 41, 1987/1988, ISSN  0332-415X , pp. 135-138, JSTOR 25535580 .
  • Charles Mount: Early Bronze Age Burial in South-East Ireland in the light of Recent Research. In: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature. Vol. 97, No. 3, 1997, ISSN  0035-8991 , pp. 101-193, JSTOR 25516193 .

Web links

Coordinates: 54 ° 43 ′ 7.3 "  N , 7 ° 22 ′ 35.1"  W.