Megalithic tomb, Lettercannon, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Megalithic Tombs

Megalithic tomb, Lettercannon, Co. Kerry

On a low rise in a clearing ringed by conifers in County Kerry, three large stones sit in an arrangement that may, or may not, be several thousand years old.

The upper stone, roughly three metres in length, rests across two underlying stones of similar size that appear to have toppled from an upright position. Whether that configuration is the work of prehistoric builders or simply the slow subsidence of geology is, frankly, uncertain. That uncertainty is itself the point.

The site came to light on 17 February 2009, when archaeologist Miriam Carroll of Tobar Archaeological Services was monitoring construction work at a wind farm at Lettercannon, Co. Kerry. Within a small area, she identified two features located within five metres of each other: one a possible stone hut site, the other this tentative candidate for a megalithic tomb. A megalithic tomb is, in its simplest form, a burial monument constructed from large upright stones and capstones, typically dating to the Neolithic period. Carroll herself was careful with her language, describing the tomb identification as a very tentative suggestion and noting that the precise nature of the site remains unclear. Vegetation had obscured much of the feature at the time of inspection, which did little to help matters. Both sites were fenced off within the wind farm boundary during construction, preserving them from immediate disturbance while their status remained unresolved.

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