Burren Archaeology Neolithic

The first farmers are thought to have arrived in the Burren in the early Neolithic period, some 6,000 years ago. Farming activity appears to have been of a small scale, transient nature characterised by sporadic clearances, followed by abandonment and subsequent regeneration of the woody vegetation. The legacy of these early settlers is best seen in early burial sites such as the famous Poulnabrone portal dolmen, built some 5,800 years ago, within which evidence of early agricultural activity has been recovered.

Ó Nualláin (1983), in a study examining the siting and distribution of Megalithic tombs in Ireland, found that portal and court tomb locations demonstrate a bias toward areas of lower altitude in close proximity to the coast or to water sources. The southern bias to the location of the Burren's court and portal tombs, and the settlements associated with them, though located in upland areas, may possibly be related to the proximity of the River Fergus further south. Wedge tombs, in contrast, are more widely distributed at altitudes up to 900 feet, suggesting 'greater adaptability to local conditions and, with 32% of the total located on thinner soils between 600 and 900 feet, exploitation of uplands for stock raising' (Ó Nualláin, 1983).

There are only two known portal tombs in the Burren: one on the southern periphery at Ballycashin, and the other in the very centre of the Burren at Poulnabrone. Results from an excavation of the Poulnabrone portal tomb (Lynch and Ó Donnabháin, 1994), which dates from c. 5,800 BP, reveal that this tomb contained the remains of up to 22 people, interred over six centuries. High levels of stress and physical attrition due to diet and work were noted, as was evidence of injury by a chert arrowhead in one case. Early demise was common, with analysis of the adult remains indicating life spans of under thirty years. Dental analyses revealed high levels of wear and tear consistent with a diet that included ground cereal. Other evidence recovered from this site indicated that these people were farmers of cattle, sheep and goat, and that cereal was also grown.

There are four known court tombs in the Burren, all located along its southern limits, from Doolin to Ballyganner to Leamanagh and on to Roughan hill. Evidence from Irish court tombs indicates that these structures were not primarily used as funerary monuments, but that they seem to have been a focus of ritual activity over a number of generations. A recently excavated court tomb at Roughan Hill has been dated to 5,500 BP: human and animal (probably cow) bones, as well as a Neolithic chert arrowhead were found at the site (Jones and Gilmer, 1999).

Farming developed significantly during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, when a phase of more concerted, structured, and settled agricultural activity seems to have developed. The presence of over seventy-five wedge tombs, of Ireland's 400, and numerous farm settlements from this period in the Burren indicate the scale and extent of this prospering agricultural-based economy. Feighan (1985) construes the use of land and labour in such a 'non-productive manner' as evidence of an organised society in control of its resources.

Wedge tombs occur in a variety of sizes, locations and aggregations in the Burren, and though none have been excavated as of yet, it is thought that they generally date from the third millennium BC, i.e. the late Neolithic. In some places the density of these tombs is so concentrated as to suggest the presence of a 'Megalithic tomb cemetery'. One such example is at Parknabinna, near Roughan Hill, in the south-east Burren. Here, twelve wedge tombs are concentrated within a small area, the associated settlement optimally situated to benefit from a combination of good winter pasture to the north, and the proximity of the River Fergus further south.