Kilnavert Wedge Tomb
DatedEst. 2500–2000 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
The Kilnavert Wedge Tomb is a wedge tomb in the townland of Kilnavert (Irish Cill na bhFeart), near Ballyconnell in County Cavan, Ireland. It stands on a slight rise in hill country east of Gortnaleck Lough and is oriented north-west to south-east. It is marked as “Giants Grave” on the Ordnance Survey (OS) and historical maps.
The catalogue gives an estimated date of 2500 to 2000 BCE, based on typology. Two standing stones lie close to the tomb.
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
Kilnavert Wedge Tomb
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von KilnavertCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von KilnavertCC BY-SA 4.0
The tomb is surrounded by trees. It consists of a somewhat damaged, flat chamber about 3.5 m long, flanked by edge stones. The chamber narrows from 1.5 m in width at the front to 1.35 m at the northern end. One roof slab covers all of the chamber except the rear end. There are traces of a mound measuring 11 m × 10 m.
A facade stone lies about 2.0 m west of the north side. On the south side of the chamber lie three outer wall stones, with a further one 2.5 m to the west. In the north there are two outer wall stones, 5 m apart.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von KilnavertCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von KilnavertCC BY-SA 4.0
Standing stone 1 stands 4.5 m north of the tomb. It is an irregularly shaped stone about 1.76 m high, 0.80 m wide and 0.35 m thick. Standing stone 2 stands south-east of the tomb on the slope of a low drumlin. It is an irregularly shaped stone about 2.1 m high, 0.97 m wide and 0.78 m thick.
NameSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von KilnavertCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von KilnavertCC BY-SA 4.0
The Kilnavert area was originally called Fossa Slécht or Rath Slécht, after which the plain of Magh Slécht (“the plain of the genuflections”) was named.
Wedge tombs are chamber tombs without a passage, mostly undivided, of the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Ireland.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von KilnavertCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von KilnavertCC BY-SA 4.0
Wedge tombs are chamber tombs without a passage, mostly undivided, of the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Ireland. The type takes its name from the way the burial chamber narrows at one end, usually decreasing in height and in width from west to east, which gives it a wedge shape in profile. Wedge tombs are one of the four categories of megalithic tomb described by Seán Ó Nualláin and Rúaidhrí de Valera in their survey of 1961, the others being 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
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°05′19″ N, 7°38′48″ WFor a GPS or map app: 54.08869, -7.64665
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.
- Megalithic complexDerryragh Megalithen
Court Tomb von Doon3750–2900 BCE- Passage tomb (passage grave)Passage Tomb von Carn3400–2900 BCE
Gartnanoul Court Tomb3750–2900 BCE- Wedge tombWedge Tomb von Greenan
- Portal tomb (portal dolmen)Portal Tomb von Aghavas4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenLoughscur Tomb4000–3000 BCE
- MegalithPortal Tomb von Carrickclevan3300–2900 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q19311406wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.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 "Wedge Tomb von Kilnavert" (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