County: Kerry Site name: Knockavrogeen West
Sites and Monuments Record No.: KE043-264 Licence number: 21E0284
Author: Tony Bartlett
Site type: Unclassified megalithic tomb
Period/Dating: Chalcolithic (2500 BC-2201 BC)
ITM: E 441342m, N 604544m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.169881, -10.319534
Following the discovery of a previously unrecorded unclassified megalithic tomb at Knockavrogeen West on the Dingle Peninsula in Co. Kerry during land reclamation works, licensed archaeological monitoring of the remaining works was undertaken by Archaeological Management Solutions (AMS) on behalf of the National Monuments Service (NMS) of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. No additional archaeological features, deposits or artefacts were encountered during the monitoring. After completion of the monitoring, AMS carried out a programme of limited excavation works and recording, including the removal of exposed human remains within the tomb, prior to its ultimate reinstatement and preservation in situ.
The tomb is a semi-subterranean construct, keyhole-shaped in plan and orientated west-northwest/east-southeast. A sealed entrance is located at the western end marked by a pair of upright entrance stones and a possible sealing deposit outlying these. At the time of its discovery, no mound or cairn was present over the tomb, and the only visible element was the largest of the three capstones, which was displaced by the reclamation works. The tomb comprises a large oval chamber in the east and an adjoining square, smaller chamber in the west, and has maximum internal dimensions of 3.55m in length by 1.7m in width, and a maximum depth of 1.15m. The eastern chamber consists of two distinct levels, comprising a floor made up of four stone slabs which sit on side stones and over a cavity beneath. An interesting feature of the western chamber is an enigmatic freestanding upright stone known as a pillar stone, located just inside the entrance.
The burial practices recorded at the tomb comprised collective burial, including both disarticulated inhumation and cremation, spanning at least five centuries. Four radiocarbon determinations were returned from samples of human remains recovered from the tomb: cremated bone — from the lower of two overlapping cremation deposits — returned a Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age date of cal. 2623–2467 BC (UBA-48142), while cremated bone from the upper of these deposits returned an Early Bronze Age date of cal. 2579–2344 BC (UBA-48141); an unburnt femur returned an Early Bronze Age date of cal. 2282–2033 BC (UBA-48145); and a loose fragment of cremated bone returned an Early Bronze Age date of cal. 2113–1889 BC (UBA-48143).
Analysis of the human remains suggests at least two/possibly three adults and three juveniles are represented. Part of the burial rite comprised the deposition of grave goods — as evidenced by the inclusion of a utilised elongated cobble (21E0284:1) recovered from the floor stones in the eastern chamber.
After the completion of the excavation works, the tomb was reinstated, including the return of the displaced capstone to its original position overlying the eastern chamber, to ensure its future preservation in situ.
The tomb appears to have no known parallel, and the current evidence suggests that it represents a regional variation of the megalithic tomb tradition. It is one of only a small number of megalithic tombs investigated to date in Kerry, and the first on the Dingle Peninsula.
Archaeological Management Solutions, Fahy’s Road, Kilrush, Co. Clare