Irish megalithic art

One of the best known features of the neolithic Irish monuments known as passage-graves are the carved engravings, a mysterious symbolic language that is inscribed on many structural stones, especially in the Boyne Valley and at Loughcrew in County Meath. These engravings may be considered the to be the earliest form of writing or inscription found in Ireland. The symbols were carved by descendants of the first colonizing farmers who landed in County Sligo around 4,150 BC, where they constructed the early causewayed enclosure at Magheraboy.

It is generally accepted that the early farmers migrated to Sligo from Brittany, an area with a long tradition of monument building with megalithic art found at sites such as Gavrinis, Kercado and La Table des Marchands. Modern genetic research has demonstrated that Western European megaliths were constructed by colonizing farmers who originated in Anatolia or Ancient Turkey, who had migrated into Europe by two routes: one group travelled overland along the route of the Danube, the other group travelled by boat through the Mediterranean sea.

Carrowmore

The Sligo area appears to be one of the first regions of Ireland to be colonized by neolithic farmers. A number of early carvings have been found in the western sites of Carrowmore and Carrowkeel. Art was noticed at Listoghil, the central monument at Carrowmore, by tour guide Michael Roberts, which was subsequently published by Patricia Curren Mulligan. The engraving consists of three joined arcs or 'rainbows' carved on the right edge of the huge capstone. To the right of the arcs there is a double ring with a dot at the center, illustrated below.

Because the carving is on weathered limestone, it can be extremely difficult to see with the naked eye; however, it can be viewed around noon during the summer months when the sun is directly overhead.

The possibility of megalithic art was dismissed by Elizabeth Shee-Twohig as a figment of Brueil's imagination and Claire O'Kelly stated that of the two cemeteries in County Sligo, Carrowmore and Carrowkeel were without ornament.

Yes, but It Is Art! - Patricia Curran-Mulligan, 1994.

This monument has been dated to around 3,600 BC. The chamber has an astronomical alignment towards the sunrises and moon rises over the peaks of the Ballygawley Mountains six kilometers to the southeast. The chamber was originally a free-standing monument like the other chambers in Carrowmore, whcih was buried in a cairn some three hundred years after it was constructed. The free-standing chamber, supported by a massive platform, had an unrestricted view of the local horizon, and would have functioned as a sundial, casting shadows on the boulder circle at sunrise and sunset on various times of the year. The modern reconstruction has restricted the view to a few days in late October and early February.

Tomb 51 (Listoghil) holds a central position in the cemetery. The largest of the Carrowmore tombs, it is sited on top of a knoll overlooking the other tombs and the roof-slab is greatly weathered and covered in lichens. Initially one sees very little looking at this stone (of course, if the carvings were obvious, many experts would not have dismissed art at Carrowmore in the past). Following on the photographic evidence rubbings of the stone using rice-paper were carried out with the co-operation of the Office of Public Works. These produced more definite evidence of circular motifs.

Yes, but It Is Art! - Patricia Curran-Mulligan, 1994.

A series of double arcs on the edge of the capstone appear to represent four the peaks of the Ballygawley mountains to the south east. A ring with a dot to either side of the arcs could represent the sunrises at Samhain and the Winter solstice.

Cloverhill

The sunken megalithic chamber at Cloverhill, 500 meters east of Carrowmore, was discovered during extensive ploughing in 1830. Great excitement ensued when several of the chamber stones were found to be covered with engravings, and George Petrie used the discovery

to connect the period of the erection of this remarkable group of monuments with those of the same class in other parts of Ireland, and particularly with those of the great pagan sepulchres on the banks of the Boyne.

Modern researchers believe that the carvings at Cloverhill belong to the late bronze age or iron age and are probably contemporary with the carving found within the chamber of Listoghil, which appears to have been carved with an iron chisel.

Heapstown and Carrowkeel

Two more examples of megalithic art were discovered in recent years, one on a kerbstone at Heapstown, the huge unopened cairn at Lough Arrow, the other in the chamber of Cairn B at Carrowkeel.

The discovery of megalithic art at Heapstown, made by myself in the late 1990's, and was was not surprising as there were rumours of a stone bearing art having been removed from the cairn during quarrying. In some versions of the local story, the stone was carved with ogham, a script dating from a much later than the megalithic art, and stood at the summit of the great cairn. However, the illustration of the designs was drawn by Vincent Dodd in his report for the National Schools Folklore Collection in the 1930's has all the hallmarks of genuine megalithic art.

The carving at Heapstown which I discovered is located on a south-facing kerbstone and consists of a number of parallel lines, which may indicate that the as yet undiscovered entrance to the monument is close by.

Carrowkeel Art

The first piece of engraved art to be found in Carrowkeel was discovered in 2009 by Robert Hensey, who noticed two faint spirals carved in the chamber of Cairn B. An account of the discovery titled Once Upon a Time in the West was published in 2012. These discoveries of megalithic art connect the sites at Lough Arrow and Carrowmore to Loughcrew and the Boyne Valley. As Robert Hensey puts it:

As a result of these new finds there is now megalithic art known from all four major passage tomb complexes. While there seems to be a tradition of making megalithic art at passage tombs in County Sligo, it would be wrong to expect large undiscovered quantities of art in the north-west. The authors carried out a two-week search as part of the Carrowkeel Passage Tomb Art Project at many other passage tombs in the Carrowkeel-Keashcorran complex and a number of other passage tombs in the region, and the second stone in Cairn B was the only additional art found.

It is likely, however, that more art will be discovered in the west in time. The possible use of pigments to make colored motifs and designs might also explain the smaller quantities of carved art on passage tombs in the west. Evidence of the use of colour has recently been discovered on the parietal walls at Barnenez and Gavrinis passage tombs in Brittany, France, and at the Neolithic Ness of Brodgar site in the Orkney Islands. It may be that similar evidence will one day be found on the walls of passage tombs in Carrowkeel and on Neolithic monuments elsewhere in Ireland. But that, as they say, is another story.

Conclusion from Once Upon a Time in the West.

There are several other examples of megalithic art to be found at isolated monuments in the mid north of Ireland. The large chamber at Knockmany in County Tyrone has a fine collection of six engraved stones, now covered by a strange glass structure for the protection of the art. The chamber is five meters in length and opens to the south, quite possibly aligned to Loughcrew eighty kilometers away. Another engraved monument is found close by at Sess Kilgreen, where apparently the carvings have eroded badly from exposure to weathering.

These engravings may well deal with ritual astronomical themes, demonstrated at several sites where the artwork is illuminated by the light of the sun or moon at a chosen time during the cycle of the body in question.

Loughcrew - Sliabh na Cailleach

When it comes to megalithic art, no other place in Ireland can compare to County Meath, where there are more engraved stones than the total for Western Europe.

Knowth alone has 50% of the engraved stones in Ireland. Early engravings have been discovered in recent years on the chamber of Listoghil monument at Carrowmore in Co Sligo. Heapstown Cairn, also in Sligo is known to have had several engraved stones, with perhaps an ogham stone standing at the top of the mound. Only one stone remains visible today, as many were robbed from the site in the last century.

Few designs are known in the west of Ireland and some other scatters sites such as Knockmany and Sess Kilgreen in County Tyrone. Loughcrew, just within the west boundary of County Meath has many engraved stones, of a type that seem rougher and earlier than the art of the Boyne Valley. Many of the engravings are badly weathered from long exposure to the elements, while those that had shelter are as fresh as the day they were engraved more than 5,000 years ago. Loughcrew retains two fabulous alignments where the rising sun illuminates and interacts with the panel of art at Cairns T and L.

The Boyne Valley