Finn McCool's Fingers
Also known asFin McCools Fingers · Finn McCools Fingers · Shantemon Stone Row
DatedEst. 4500–1200 BCE
Photo Deadstar · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Finn McCool's Fingers, also known as the Shantemon Stone Row, is a set of five standing stones on Shantemon mountain in County Cavan, Ireland. The stones are arranged in a south-east/north-west orientation.
Read on Wikipedia1 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
Finn McCool's Fingers
The name is derived from a story that the giant Celtic warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill lost a hand in battle.
NameSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Finn McCools FingersCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Finn McCools FingersCC BY-SA 4.0
The name is derived from a story that the giant Celtic warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill lost a hand in battle. Local tradition thus connects the five stones with the fingers of the hand.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Finn McCools FingersCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Finn McCools FingersCC BY-SA 4.0
A stone row, or stone alignment, is a line of megalithic standing stones set at intervals along a common axis, usually dating from the later Neolithic or Bronze Age. Three or more aligned stones can make a row. The word alignment means only that the stones line up with each other, not that they point to anything.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Stone rows and alignments
A stone row, or stone alignment, is a line of megalithic standing stones set at intervals along a common axis, or several axes, usually dating from the later Neolithic or Bronze Age. Three or more aligned stones can make a row. Rows may be single or grouped, and range from a few metres to several kilometres long, with stones up to about 2 metres tall, though most are smaller. Archaeologists treat each row as a discrete feature, and the word "alignment" means only that the stones line up with each other, not that they point to anything.
Dartmoor in Devon has some of the best British examples, and its Upper Erme stone row, 3,300 metres long, is the longest on Dartmoor and in fact in the world. A triple stone row stands at Challacombe near the prehistoric settlement of Grimspound. In Caithness, at the Hill o' Many Stanes near Mid Clyth, about 200 upright stones, none more than a metre high, are set out in fan-shaped rows running up the slope; the arrangement is believed to be a relic of the Bronze Age. In his 1971 book Megalithic Lunar Observatories, Alexander Thom argued that the rows were a Bronze Age lunar observatory. That is a hypothesis that remains debated, and not an established fact. At Calanais on Lewis, rows of stones radiate outwards from a circle, forming a cross-shaped plan.
Dating is difficult, because rows are rarely associated with datable deposits; most are given a general Neolithic to Bronze Age range.
When visiting, walk the length of a row and notice how the stones diminish or grow in height, and which landmark lies at either end.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Stone row, Wikipedia: Dartmoor, Wikipedia: Hill o' Many Stanes, Wikipedia: Callanish Stones · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photographs
5 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. 4500–1200 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypological estimate, not a date for this site: a stone row in the British Isles is normally dated between 4500 BCE and 1200 BCE (Atlas typological table).Source for this date
Measured facts
- Mainstream position
- The source identifies them as a set of five standing stones arranged in a southeast-to-northwest orientation.Source: Mainstream position
- Number of standing stones
- fiveSource: Number of standing stones
- Location
- Shantemon mountain, County CavanSource: Location
- Orientation
- south-east/north-westSource: Orientation
- Alternative name
- Shantemon Stone RowSource: Alternative name
Alternative claims
Alternative claims about this site, kept in their own block and labelled with where they stand.
The stones are the fingers of the giant Celtic warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill, who lost a hand in battle.
Where it stands
Ireland
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 54°01′03″ N, 7°17′29″ WFor a GPS or map app: 54.01757, -7.29137
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.
- Wedge tombWedge Tomb von Aghadrumgowna2500–2000 BCE
- Dolmenmegaliths of Banagher4000–3000 BCE
Gartnanoul Court Tomb3750–2900 BCE- MegalithPortal Tomb von Aghawee3300–2900 BCE
portal tomb of Duffcastle4000–3000 BCE- Stone row (alignment)Drumgole stone row
Carrickacroy portal tomb4000–3000 BCE- MegalithPortal Tomb von Carrickclevan3300–2900 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q15526200wikidata.org
- 02Wikipedia (en)en.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Five fingers, Shantemon, Co Cavan.jpgDeadstarCC BY-SA 4.0
- Finn McCool Fingers.jpgAgsmaoineamh1CC BY-SA 4.0
- County Cavan - Finn McCools Fingers - 20170507154449.jpgDermotKCC BY-SA 4.0
- County Cavan - Finn McCools Fingers - 20170507154808.jpgDermotKCC BY-SA 4.0
- Finn mc cuills 5 fingers, castletara , ballyhaise, co cavan.jpgIsobelwynneCC BY-SA 4.0
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Lore, kept apart
Legends and claims
These are stories and claims reported by the sources. They are not evidence, and they never stand in for the dating above.
- Tested: not supported
The stones are the fingers of the giant Celtic warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill, who lost a hand in battle.
Source
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Finn McCools Fingers" (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): Finn McCools FingersCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q15526200CC0