
Overview
About this site
Overview
Calliagh (Irish An Chailleach) is a heavily disturbed wedge tomb standing on a drumlin about 8.0 km south-west of Monaghan in County Monaghan, Ireland. It was built in the Neolithic.
Its gallery is about 7.5 metres long and retains remains of double walls, chiefly on the south side. An antechamber at the front is separated from the main gallery by a side slab.
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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
Calliagh
It is too small to have been a capstone, but it may be an orthostat of the kind occasionally observed, which originally divided off the entrance.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CalliaghCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CalliaghCC BY-SA 4.0
The monument consists of large stones. The gallery, about 7.5 metres long, preserves remains of double walls, mainly on the south side. At the front is an antechamber, separated from the main gallery by a side slab.
Inside the chamber one stone leans against a wall. It is too small to have been a capstone, but it may be an orthostat of the kind occasionally observed, which originally divided off the entrance. Some capstones survive in displaced positions.
The mound is almost 20.0 m long and more than 10.0 m wide. At the front and along one side of the mound stand two stones about 2.0 metres high, which could be original standing stones or displaced capstones. Upright stones at the rear of the monument may be part of the original kerb.
DatingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CalliaghCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CalliaghCC BY-SA 4.0
The monument is described as having been built between 4000 and 2500 BCE, in the Neolithic. The catalogue record gives a typological estimate of 2500 to 2000 BCE; neither date rests on excavation.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CalliaghCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CalliaghCC BY-SA 4.0
Wedge tombs are double-walled, passage-less and mostly undivided megalithic structures of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, and they are particularly typical of the western half of Ireland.
A wedge tomb takes its name from the way the burial chamber narrows at one end, usually decreasing both in height and in width from west to east. Wedge-shaped gallery graves are one of the four categories of megalithic tomb described by Seán Ó Nualláin and Rúaidhrí de Valera in their survey of 1961, alongside court cairns, portal dolmens and passage tombs.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Irish wedge tombs
A wedge tomb, or wedge-shaped gallery grave, is a type of Irish chamber tomb. It takes its name from the way the burial chamber narrows at one end, usually decreasing both in height and in width from west to east, which gives it a wedge shape in profile. An antechamber is separated from the burial area by a simple stone slab. Wedge tombs are one of the four categories of megalithic tomb described by the Irish scholars Seán Ó Nualláin and Rúaidhrí de Valera in their survey of 1961: court cairns, portal dolmens, wedge-shaped gallery graves and passage tombs.
A gallery grave is a megalithic tomb in which the main gallery is entered without first passing through an antechamber or hallway. The gallery graves of western Europe were probably community burial sites, in which family or hamlet members were laid to reinforce the sense of community. Gallery graves can be covered with an earthen mound or a cairn, and there are at least four major types: complex, transepted, segmented and wedge-shaped.
Wedge tombs were built between the Irish late Neolithic and the middle Bronze Age, about 2500 to 2000 BCE. Between 500 and 550 survive, mostly in the west and north-west of Ireland. A distinguishing feature is the double walling of the gallery. They were often covered by round, oval or D-shaped cairns, usually about 1.5 metres high, with a kerb, and are generally found on mountainsides, about three-quarters of the way up. The doorway generally faces west.
When visiting, look at how the walls narrow towards the back of the tomb and at the double wall of the gallery.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Wedge-shaped gallery grave, Wikipedia: Gallery grave, Wikipedia: Bell Beaker culture, Wikipedia: Passage grave · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 2500 BCE
Das stark gestörte, zwischen 4000 und 2500 v. Chr. in der Jungsteinzeit errichtete Wedge Tomb von Calliagh (irisch An Chailleach) liegt etwa 8,0 km südwestlich von Monaghan im County Monaghan in Irland auf einem Drumlin.
Source
Photographs
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 2500–2000 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for wedge tombs in Ireland; this site has not been dated itself. Wedge tombs were built between the Irish late Neolithic and middle Bronze Ages about 2500 to 2000 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Ireland
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 54°11′09″ N, 7°01′33″ WFor a GPS or map app: 54.18572, -7.02591
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.
- DolmenCourt Tomb von Carn4000–3000 BCE
- Court tomb (court cairn)Cairnbaine court tomb3750–2900 BCE
- Court tomb (court cairn)Tiredigan Court Tomb4000–2500 BCE
- Portal tomb (portal dolmen)Portal Tomb von Garran4000–3000 BCE
Court Tomb von Killydrutan3750–2900 BCE- Court tomb (court cairn)Court Tomb von Edergole3750–2900 BCE
- Stone row (alignment)Drumgole stone row
Portal Tomb von Lennan3300–2900 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q26807817wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Calliagh" (German), 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 (German): CalliaghCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q26807817CC0