archaeological & built heritage assessment - The Heritage Council

During the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (c.3500-c.1500 BC) a characteristic feature of farming
communities in Ireland, and over much of Western Europe, was the practice of collective burial in stone
tombs, now known as 'megalithic tombs' (Twohig 1990). Basically these consist of a burial chamber or
chambers, with walls built of large upright stones and roofed over by lintels or corbels of stone, and
originally contained within a cairn (mound of stones) with access at one end into the chamber. The dead,
inhumed or cremated, were placed in the chamber, often accompanied by grave goods such as pottery
vessels and flint arrowheads. In Ireland, four main types of megalithic tomb have been identified and
termed as court tombs, portal tombs, passage tombs and wedge tombs. The latter are most numerous
and are generally found in western and south-western regions. Within the Waterways corridor there is a
court tomb recorded within the townland of Cleighran More, Co. Leitrim as well as an unclassified
megalithic tomb in Cootehall, Co. Roscommon. The inland nature of the river Shannon and Lough Allen,
Lough Key and the Carnadoe Waters would certainly have been exploited for both food resources and
transport purposes through what would have been still relatively rough, forested terrain during the
Neolithic period. While each megalithic tomb type generally has its own particular siting criteria, Cooney
(1979, 85) discovered that all the tombs in Co. Leitrim are on, or are in close proximity to, the small
proportion of the county with relatively good podzolic or rendzina soils. As such, it is likely that several
more sub-surface Neolithic remains exist within the study area.
Metalworking arrived in the area c. 2200BC and the change associated with this development is reflected
in a move from large communal tombs to individual burials in small pits or stone cists. A characteristic of
the earlier Bronze Age in Ireland is the emergence of a distinctive burial custom, often termed the ‘single
burial tradition’ (Waddell 1990), which was part of a wider European milieu. In the initial stages of this
tradition both inhumation and cremation were practised. Burial in cairns (stone mounds), barrows and
tumuli (earthen mounds) or cists (box-like and slab-built burial compartments) was fairly common. Within
the study area there is a ring barrow and a mound barrow located in Co. Roscommon within the
townlands of Smutternagh and Rockingham respectively, while a cairn is recorded at Derrycarne
Demesne, Co. Leitrim. There are instances where a monument has been removed and no description is
available, and occasions where the feature might be natural. In these cases, where the true character
cannot be established, the features are described as 'mounds' (Moore 2003). The results from excavations
suggest a long tradition for such monuments ranging in date from the Neolithic to Early Bronze Age times.
As the Bronze Age progressed (c. 3000-1500BC) other stone built monuments were constructed and are
numerous in the south-western region such as stone circles, stone rows, boulder burials and standing
stones. Single upright stones are a common feature of the Irish countryside and are known by various
names (gállan, dállan, leacht, long stone etc.) (O’Kelly 1989). They are not all necessarily of one period or
serving the same purpose. Some have been shown to mark prehistoric burials while others may have had
a commemorative or ritual function, or served as boundary markers or position posts along ancient
routeways (Buckley & Sweetman 1991, 73). The vast majority of standing stones have their long axis
north-east/south-west, which suggests a close affinity with stone rows and pairs, which share the same
orientation pattern. There is a standing stone recorded within the study area at Mullaghfadda, Co. Leitrim.
Bronze objects in the form of axes, spearheads, dirks and rapiers have very often been found in a wetland
context. Almost half of Bronze Age hoards have been found in wet conditions, usually in bogs. Half of all
individual axes found have also been deposited in rivers, lakes and bogs and the evidence suggests that
such contexts were deliberately chosen. This pattern continues into the Later Bronze Age (c. 1500BC-
900BC) and it may be that the formal disposal of prestige bronzes was confined to wetland contexts,
particularly in the open water of rivers, and certain rivers like the Shannon seem to have been favoured.
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