Overview
About this site
Overview
Cohaw is a Neolithic double court tomb located 4 kilometres south-east of Cootehill, County Cavan, Ireland. It lies on a ridge overlooking a small tributary of the River Annalee, which flows into Lough Oughter.
It was excavated in 1949 by Howard Kilbride-Jones and is known locally as the 'Giant's Grave'.
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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
Cohaw Tomb
It was originally built as two single tombs, each consisting of a court at each end connected by a long, five chambered burial gallery.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): CohawCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): CohawCC BY-SA 4.0
The tomb is visible from the R192 road between Shercock and Cootehill. It was originally built as two single tombs, each consisting of a court at each end connected by a long, five chambered burial gallery. The south court is two thirds of a circle in shape, while the north court is u-shaped. The northern court contains two post holes that would have held large pillar-stones. The tomb stands in an 82 ft (25m) long rectangular cairn.
ExcavationsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): CohawCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): CohawCC BY-SA 4.0
Cohaw was excavated by the archaeologist Howard Kilbride-Jones in 1949. The finds consisted of teeth, skull fragments and the cremated remains of a child. A carinated, round-bottomed Neolithic bowl was also uncovered. An unusual feature at the time of excavation was a bow-shaped bank across the entrance to the north court.
NameSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): CohawCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): CohawCC BY-SA 4.0
The tomb is known locally as the 'Giant's Grave'.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): CohawCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): CohawCC BY-SA 4.0
Court tombs are among the earliest megalithic monuments to be built in Ireland, and there are more than three hundred examples in the country. County Cavan has a large number of megalithic tombs, including eighteen court tombs. A court cairn or court tomb is a type of chambered cairn identified by an open, uncovered courtyard connected to one or more roofed burial chambers. Courts were built in a variety of shapes, with oval or circular forms predominating, and the boundary of the courtyard is typically lined with large standing stones.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Irish and Scottish court tombs
A court cairn or court tomb is a type of chambered cairn identified by an open, uncovered courtyard connected to one or more roofed burial chambers. In the period 3900 to 3500 BCE more than 390 court cairns were built in Ireland and over 100 in south-west Scotland, where they are called Clyde cairns or Clyde-Carlingford cairns. The Clyde cairns are generally considered the earliest chambered cairns in Scotland, and they are distributed from the Solway Firth area north to the southern Hebrides. Many monuments were built in several phases and later reused in the Early Bronze Age.
The courtyard is oval or circular, with U-shaped and semicircular courts also known, and its boundary is typically lined with large standing stones. A narrow stone-lined entry leads from the court into the roofed chambers. At Creevykeel in County Sligo, the first court cairn excavated in Ireland, Harvard archaeologists worked in 1935 and concluded that the Neolithic in Ireland began in 3900 BCE, more than a hundred years before the first appearance of court tombs, and that court tombs were widely reused in the Early Bronze Age. Excavations at court tombs have yielded cremated and unburnt human bone and round-bottomed pottery.
In Scotland, Cairnholy in Dumfries and Galloway is the site of two chambered tombs of the Clyde type on a hillside overlooking Wigtown Bay, 4 kilometres east of Carsluith; the two lie within 150 metres of each other.
Court tombs are dated by radiocarbon dates of the bone they contain and the pottery.
When visiting, look for the standing stones of the forecourt and the entrance to the chambers.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Court cairn, Wikipedia: Chambered cairn, Wikipedia: Cairn Holy, Wikipedia: Passage grave · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1949
Cohaw was excavated by archaeologist, Howard Kilbride-Jones, in 1949. The excavation finds consisted of teeth, skull fragments, and the cremated remains of a child.
Source
Photographs
8 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 4000–2500 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypological estimate, not a date for this site: a court tomb in the British Isles is normally dated between 4000 BCE and 2500 BCE (Atlas typological table).Source for this date
Measured facts
- Type
- Neolithic double court tombSource: Type
- Location
- County Cavan, IrelandSource: Location
- Landscape position
- On a ridge overlooking a small tributary of the River AnnaleeSource: Landscape position
- Excavator
- Howard Kilbride-JonesSource: Excavator
- Excavation year
- 1949Source: Excavation year
- Excavation finds
- Teeth, skull fragments, cremated child remains, and a carinated, round-bottomed Neolithic bowlSource: Excavation finds
Where it stands
Ireland
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 54°03′14″ N, 7°01′41″ WFor a GPS or map app: 54.05389, -7.02803
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.
portal tomb of Mayo4000–3000 BCE- Court tomb (court cairn)Court Tomb von Edergole3750–2900 BCE
- MegalithWedge Tomb von Drumeague3300–2900 BCE
- Stone row (alignment)Drumgole stone row
- Wedge tombWedge Tomb von Aghadrumgowna2500–2000 BCE
- DolmenCourt Tomb von Carn4000–3000 BCE
- Portal tomb (portal dolmen)Portal Tomb von Garran4000–3000 BCE
Calliagh2500–2000 BCE
_Portal_Tomb.jpg){kind=link}
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q1107054wikidata.org
- 02Wikipedia (en)en.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Cohaw tomb entrance.JPGQbit warriorCC BY-SA 4.0
- View towards road entrance.JPGQbit warriorCC BY-SA 4.0
- Chamber view 2.JPGQbit warriorCC BY-SA 4.0
- Tomb ring.JPGQbit warriorCC BY-SA 4.0
- View inside chamber.JPGQbit warriorCC BY-SA 4.0
- View towards ring.JPGQbit warriorCC BY-SA 4.0
- Cohaw Tomb 15.jpgWeloveirelandCC BY-SA 4.0
- Cohaw Tomb 19.jpgWeloveirelandCC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Cohaw" (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): CohawCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q1107054CC0