Standing Stones are the basic element. They are found singly and in more complex arrangements with others. The most distinctive compound monuments are stone circles, rows and pairs. These while remaining uniquely Irish may be regarded as variant types of similar monuments found in Wales, Scotland, England and Brittany.
Within the complex there is also another type of monument, found nowhere else. Seemingly an indigenous development, the "boulder-burial", has generally been regarded as a sort of debased portal tomb. Its existence within the monument group has been used in a circular argument to support the idea that all these monument types are primarily grave markers.
The monuments of the complex all show a strong tendency towards a south-west / north-east orientation, as did the wedge tombs that occupied this area before them. Stone circles of the Cork-Kerry type are known as Axial Stone Circles and always have an odd number of stones. The axial stone is usually in the south-west quadrant, normally being the lowest, widest stone. Opposite the axial stone are a pair of portals and these are usually the tallest stones of the circle. This makes them similar to the recumbent stone circles of NE Scotland but in Scotland the tallest stones are adjacent to the recumbent.
Associated with the complex are various cairns. Some with radially set stones and some without. There are also a few radial-stone enclosures. Scattered throughout the area are large numbers of fulachta fian plus a smaller number of ring-barrows and burial cists. These are all generally regarded as probably Bronze Age in date. A few habitation sites that are possibly from the same period still exist in remote rural areas. It must be remembered that what we see now are the fragmentary remains of a once much larger group of monuments. Their destruction still slowly continues, despite theoretical legal protection.
The complex was originally thought to belong to the Early Bronze Age and to be broadly contemporary with the wedge-tombs with which the area is shared. Though the wedge-tombs are distributed over a much wider area, it was thought that both groups of monument were associated with copper deposits and represented the burials of two different groups of mining communities whose agricultural economy was based primarily on cattle rearing. Since then, better dating evidence has become available and it is now clear that the wedge-tombs were constructed in the Late Neolithic / Early Bronze Age (Chalcolithic), often remaining in intermittent use until much later (O'Brien 1999). In contrast to this, the Stone Circle Complex of monuments now clearly belongs in the Mid to Late Bronze Age, their postulated date range being c.1650 - c.800 BC (Lynch1999:11). The floruit of copper mining activity on Mt Gabriel, within the area under discussion, was during the period c.1700 - c.1500 BC (O'Brien 1994).
The idea that the monuments are all grave markers for high status individuals has been persistent, but a re-think is required now that the monuments can be shown to be sited for astronomical and calendrical reasons. The astronomical side of the monuments goes well beyond that necessary for symbolic "pathways to the gods" elaborating the tomb of an individual, however high their status. To continue to argue thus would require their society to have an equivalent or better astronomical & calendrical system for them to posess the required knowledge and skill. As no evidence for any such system appears to exist, it seems appropriate to wield Occam's razor.
Yet it cannot be ignored that associated with many if not all these monuments are primary ritual deposits that may contain human remains. So it is probable that their intended use goes beyond the practical, into symbolic and religious realms. One must be careful with interpretation however as, even today, new civic buildings are often blessed by a priest and have a foundation stone or other "ritual deposit" installed by a person of public importance. If the monuments are not high status burials then many would see the cremation deposits as sacrifices. Certainly that is a possible explanation but:
These monuments may be seen as symbols of union between heaven, the earth and the people.
- They are sited where there is a particular harmony between the earth and the sky.
- They are artistically adapted to enhance that harmony and frequently if not always contain the token remains of
a human representative who has been translated to the spiritual realm.
- They indicate the horizon and that, both practically and symbolically is where heaven and earth meet.
References
- LYNCH, ANN 1999 Excavation of a Stone Row at Maughanasilly, Co. Cork. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 104:1-20.
- O'BRIEN, WILLIAM 1999 Sacred Ground: Megalithic Tombs in Coastal South-West Ireland. Galway: National University of Ireland.
- O'BRIEN, WILLIAM 1994 Mount Gabriel: Bronze Age Mining in Ireland. Galway: Galway University Press.
- Ó'NUALLÁIN, SEÁN 1975 The Stone Circle Complex of Cork and Kerry. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 105:83-131.