Bohonagh
DatedEst. 3300–2500 BCE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
Bohonagh is an axial stone circle located 2.4 km east of Rosscarbery, County Cork, Ireland. The circle is thought to date from the Bronze Age, although the catalogue record gives a typological estimate of 3300 to 2500 BCE.
It originally comprised 13 stones set in a circle with a diameter of 30 feet (9 m). A boulder burial lies nearby.
Read on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Bohonagh
The axis from these stones to the large axial stone on the west side points to sunset at the equinoxes.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): BohonaghCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): BohonaghCC BY-SA 4.0
Four of the 13 stones are missing, and three were re-erected after excavation. Two portal stones, 240 centimetres (7 ft 10 in) high, are set on the east-west axis. At just under 8 feet (2.4 m), they are among the tallest of any Irish stone circle. The axis from these stones to the large axial stone on the west side points to sunset at the equinoxes. Many of the stones have quartz inclusions, and many small pieces of quartz are associated with the circle.
A boulder burial (dolmen) is sited 20 metres (70 ft) east of the circle. Its large capstone, weighing almost 20 tons, has seven or more small cup-marks on the upper surface. Two of the three small supporting stones are of quartz, and a fourth has been uprooted. A nearby loose slab also bears cup-marks. The complex, which included a wooden house that has been excavated, is of Bronze Age date.
ExcavationsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): BohonaghCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): BohonaghCC BY-SA 4.0
The site was excavated in 1959, and a central pit containing charcoal and cremated bone was found.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): BohonaghCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): BohonaghCC BY-SA 4.0
The recumbent or axial circle is Ireland's best-known type of stone circle in the far south-west. A recumbent stone circle incorporates a large monolith, the recumbent, lying on its side. Such circles are found in only two regions, Aberdeenshire in north-east Scotland and the counties of Cork and Kerry, where they are now more commonly called Cork-Kerry or axial stone circles.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Irish stone circles
Ireland's best-known type of stone circle is the recumbent or axial circle of the far south-west. A recumbent stone circle incorporates a large monolith, the recumbent, lying on its side. These circles are found in only two regions: Aberdeenshire in north-east Scotland and the counties of Cork and Kerry, where they are now more commonly called Cork-Kerry or axial stone circles. Some archaeologists, such as Aubrey Burl, have linked them with rituals in which moonlight played a central role, since they are aligned with the arc of the southern moon; excavations at Tomnaverie in Scotland have suggested that no alignment was intended, so this remains a hypothesis.
Drombeg, near Glandore in County Cork, is also called the Druid's Altar. It is a small axial stone circle, not an especially significant example, but one of the most visited megalithic sites in Ireland. It originally consisted of seventeen closely spaced stones, of which 13 survive, made of local sandstone, in a circle 9.3 metres across. Two taller entrance stones stand opposite a recumbent axial stone, and the axis points south-west towards the setting sun. The recumbent, 1.9 metres long, has two egg-shaped carved cup marks on it. The circle was excavated in 1958, when the cremated remains of an adolescent were found in a pot at the centre.
Stone circles in the British Isles typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most built between 3300 and 2500 BCE. The name "Druid's Altar" is a later popular one.
When visiting, look for the two tall entrance stones and the recumbent opposite them, and note the direction in which the axis points.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Drombeg stone circle, Wikipedia: Recumbent stone circle, Wikipedia: Stone circle · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1959
In 1959 the site was excavated and a central pit containing charcoal and cremated bone was found.
Source
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 3300–2500 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for stone circles in Ireland; this site has not been dated itself. Stone circles are typical of the British Isles and Brittany and most were built between 3300 and 2500 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Ireland
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 51°34′48″ N, 8°59′56″ WFor a GPS or map app: 51.58010, -8.99899
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
- DolmenPortal Tomb von Ahaglaslin4000–3000 BCE
- Menhir (standing stone)Steinmonumente von Burgatia2800–1800 BCE
Reanascreena980–910 BCE
Drombeg stone circle1100–800 BCE- Stone circleKnockawaddra stone circle3300–2500 BCE
Lettergorman SW3300–2500 BCE
Templebryan Stone Circle3300–2500 BCE- DolmenCaherkirky4000–3000 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
3 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q4938208wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
- 03Wikipedia: Bohonaghen.wikipedia.org
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Bohonagh" (English), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (English): BohonaghCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q4938208CC0