The tomb was hidden in a field, under a rock on the Dingle Peninsula, in the southwest of Ireland.
Discovered last week, a double burial chamber with stone shuttering was fortuitously revealed to the eyes of a farmer from Cnoc a 'Bhróigín (Munster) who wanted to clear his field of a large slab he had just seen.
Under the stone, however, was a small carved cavity.
Nothing to do with the work of an adventurous mole or that of industrious rabbits.
it is indeed a funerary construction of the ancient prehistoric inhabitants of the island.
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Far more discreet than the spectacular megalithic sites that dot the Irish pastures, the small tomb on the Dingle Peninsula contained only human bones and a long, smooth, oval stone. No shiny treasure, but that in no way spoils its historical interest.
"This tomb seems to be completely intact and preserved in its original state in addition to containing human remains"
, enthusiastic archaeologist Breandán Ó Cíobháin, interviewed for RTÉ.
"It's very rare. This is an extremely important find because the original structure has been preserved and has not been disturbed, as may have happened in the case of other tombs found ”,
he insists.
Contacted by the discoverer of the site, the National Museum of Ireland and the National Monument Service, the Irish body in charge of historical heritage, dispatched specialists to the site to secure the tomb and carry out an initial survey.
Unusual arrangement
If a bundle of clues - the location of the tomb, its orientation, the presence of a slab - suggests that the tomb dates from the Bronze Age, which stretches in Ireland from 2500 to 500 BC. BC, Irish archaeologists prefer to remain cautious about a more precise dating of the site.
"The design of this tomb is unlike any of the other Bronze Age burial sites we have here, it is very unusual
," said Mícheál Ó Coileáin, another archaeologist cited by RTÉ.
It is possible that it is older
”. As the researchers have been able to approach the grave would be called a
"falling wedge"
(
"Wedge tomb"
), characteristic of the west of the island, generally dated to the Bronze Age and typically oriented south-southwest.
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However, as Mícheál Ó Coileáin pointed out in the
Irish Times
, these corner tombs are meant to be on the surface and mark the landscape, and not to remain hidden underground as is the case here. How to explain this unusual chthonic character?
"It is not impossible that it is a ritual site with funerary elements"
, he indicated to the Irish daily, without ruling out the possibility of also seeing there a burial chamber dating from the first times. of Christianity in the island. Finally, the nature of the smooth stone discovered inside the burial chamber also questions the archaeologist.
“It's not just a stone we found in the ground. It seems to have some meaning ”
,he completed.
Whether it is from the Bronze Age or from another era, earlier or later, the small tomb on the Dingle Peninsula already has the full attention of Irish researchers. Archaeologists will now try to elucidate in the coming months the various mysteries surrounding this unique site. Given the fragility of the structure, and in order to protect the site from any intrusion by onlookers or looters, the precise location of the tomb is kept secret by the Irish authorities.
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