Calluragh Burial Ground, An Riasc, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Burial Grounds
Among the graves uncovered at this early Christian burial ground on the Dingle Peninsula, some of the most quietly arresting finds were not relics of faith or markers of rank but small collections of rounded pebbles, resembling jackstones, tucked inside stone boxes barely half a metre long.
These miniature graves, just three or four upright stones capped by a single flat slab, sit alongside much larger adult burials in a site that rewards careful attention precisely because of what it chose to preserve.
The burial ground, known in Irish as An Cheallúnach, sits about 1.25 kilometres east of Ballyferriter on what is roughly the highest point in the townland, with an open view northward over Smerwick Harbour. Excavation revealed a rectilinear enclosure, a formally bounded rectangular space, built against the inner face of a larger enclosure wall and incorporating the remains of a stone oratory. The enclosing wall itself was constructed from erect slabs on its inner face, backed by courses of dry-walling, and measured around 0.8 metres wide, with overall internal dimensions of 10 by 6.4 metres. Within and around this space, excavators found ceallúnach graves, a ceallúnach being a type of early medieval burial enclosure associated with monastic or ecclesiastical sites, built from combinations of upright and flat stones and covered with spreads of quartz and sea pebbles. These larger graves, averaging roughly 2 by 2 metres, were further subdivided internally by additional upright slabs. Little skeletal material had survived, but the graves gave up more than bone: one contained a tiny stone figurine, a find whose purpose remains unexplained. The description of the site draws on J. Cuppage's 1986 archaeological survey of the Corca Dhuibhne region.
The site occupies elevated ground that would have been visible for some distance across the peninsula, and the northward prospect over Smerwick Harbour remains unobstructed. The combination of the enclosure remains, the oratory traces, and the unusual grave goods, particularly those small infant or child burials with their pebble deposits, makes this a place where the ordinary categories of early medieval archaeology feel genuinely insufficient.