Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, on top of low gently sloping knoll c. 450m S of Funshion River. One of the largest wedge tombs in the country, it was excavated in 1934 (Leask and Price 1936). The remains comprise a long, subrectangular gallery, aligned WNW-ESE, divided into a W main chamber (L 6.2m, Wth c. 1.7m) and a small E end chamber (L c. 0.9m; Wth 1.2m); the whole is covered by three roofstones. The main chamber is 1.8m H at W and 1.2m at E end. Gallery walls are doubled and flanked on either side by massive outer-walling. Three buttress stones stand at the E end of the gallery. A line of low kerbstones to the S of the gallery, joining buttress stones at the E end, encloses the low remains of a cairn; some remains of a cairn were found to the N of the gallery but no kerb was located. The W end of the monument is very ruined and though the original design is unclear, a portico seems likely. On the floor of the end chamber were found the headless skeleton of a woman accompanied by burnt animal bones and a bone pin; this was probably the primary burial. Higher up were cremated human bones and some coarse pot sherds. Two inhumations, including three skulls, were found in the main chamber, with sherds of coarse pottery. An additional skull appeared to match the female skeleton from the end of the chamber. Evidence for other burials were found in the portico area including a probable cist containing inhumation and sherds of possible food vessel (CO027-169----). Three radiocarbon determinations indicate that the burials could have taken place within the shortest calibrated range of 2202-2138 BC (Brindley and Lanting 1991-92, 21). (de Valera and Ó Nualláin 1982, 2-4, no. 3; Ó Riordáin and Waddell 1993, 94).

This is a National Monument in State Guardianship (no. 318).

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 4: North Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2000). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

See linked document with details from Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume IV. Counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1982)

Attached photographs:
CO027-086----_02: View of wedge tomb from S. Image provided by and copyright of Amanda Clarke 2016-2022 https://holywellscorkandkerry.com/. Photograph by Finola Finlay, curated by A Clarke.
CO027-086----_03: View from SW.
CO027-086----_04: View of W end of tomb, from SW.
CO027-086----_05: View from W.
CO027-086----_06: View of interior of gallery from W.

References

de Valera, R. and Ó Nualláin, S. 1982 Survey of the megalithic tombs of Ireland. Vol. IV, Counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary. Dublin. Stationery Office.

Brindley, A.L. and Lanting, J.N. 1991-2 Radiocarbon dates from wedge tombs. Journal of Irish Archaeology 6, 19-26.

Leask, H.G. and Price L. 1936 The Labbacallee megalith, Co. Cork. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 43C, 77-101.

Ó Ríordáin, B. and Waddell, J. 1993 The funerary bowls and vases of the Irish Bronze Age. Galway University Press.