Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb, Rylane, Co. Clare
Co. Clare |
Megalithic Tombs
In a quiet corner of County Clare, a wedge tomb sits at Rylane, representing one of the most widespread yet least-discussed monument types in the Irish prehistoric landscape.
Wedge tombs, so called because their burial galleries taper in both height and width from front to back, are the most numerous of Ireland's megalithic tomb forms, yet individual examples frequently go unnoticed, absorbed into farmland and hillside without ceremony or signage.
The principal scholarly record for this structure derives from Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin's meticulous county-by-county survey, the first volume of which covered Clare and was published in 1961. That volume remains a foundational document for understanding the distribution and condition of megalithic monuments across the county. Wedge tombs in Ireland are generally associated with the later Neolithic and into the Early Bronze Age, broadly spanning the centuries around 2500 to 2000 BC, and Clare has one of the densest concentrations of them anywhere in the country, partly owing to the exposed limestone landscapes that preserved surface monuments and partly to the long tradition of field survey in the region.