Mound, Baile An Teampaill, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Ritual/Ceremonial
On the southern side of Gleann Mór, a low grass-covered mound sits in rough, marshy ground, unclassified and unexplained.
It measures roughly 9.2 metres east to west and 8 metres north to south at its base, rising to no more than about 1.5 metres at its highest point. That modest profile is not unusual in itself, but what gives the site its quiet weight is its company: the same valley contains a wedge tomb, a type of prehistoric megalithic burial monument typically dating to the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, as well as a standing stone and the traces of what may be an early field system. Together they sketch the outline of a landscape that was, at some point, thoroughly and purposefully used.
The mound itself resists easy categorisation. It has not been assigned a definitive function or period, which places it in a different position from its better-understood neighbours. Whether it is a burial monument, a platform of some kind, or something else entirely remains an open question. The broader valley, Gleann Mór on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, falls within the territory historically known as Corca Dhuibhne, and the cluster of monuments here was documented by J. Cuppage in a 1986 archaeological survey of the peninsula. That survey drew together a remarkable concentration of prehistoric and early historic remains across the area, and this valley contributed more than one entry to its pages.