Prehistoric Societies in Ireland Field Trip: Part I

Carntigherna Hillfort

So Saturday was the field trip for my Prehistoric archaeology class.  Overall the day was pretty great, although I could've done without getting up at 8:00am on a weekend, but oh well.  Our first stop was a hillfort at the top of Corrin Hill.  The view was quite spectacular from the top.  The hillfort had a rampart of dumped stone and as well as banks and ditches for protection.  If you look carefully at the first picture you can see the ridge of the dumped stone.  Unfortunately, this hillfort is surrounded by a forest which has severely compromised the site.  In fact our professor went so far as to curse forestry as one of the greatest evils archaeology faces.

The Cross at the Top

The Stone Cairn

At the top of the hill today there are the remains of a stone cairn and a large cross.  The large cross was constructed out of stones taken from the cairn.  Inside the cairn there were several Bronze Age cist burials found.  However, they actually believe that those were inserted later and that beneath the cairn there is a Neolithic passage tomb, but an extensive excavation would need to be carried out to find out for sure.  There are also the remains of a watch tower that was constructed in the cairn during World War II, which I found interesting because, as our professor said, what the lone man in the watch tower would do if he ever saw anything seemed vague at best.

One of the Many Crows

Our next stop was Labbacalle wedge tomb, which I visited earlier if you've read all of my posts :P.  This time though I managed to get a photo of one of the many crows that seem to haunt the place.  Also the exact translation of Labbacallee is 'Bed of the Old Woman/Hag/Witch.'  One can only wonder if stories of the decapitated woman who was in the tomb helped name this place.