What is recorded here

Cairn stands on a drulin ridge in County Cavan, a broken ring of loose stones that once hid a narrow burial chamber. In 1996 a digger tore through the heap and lifted the capstone, exposing an adult skull and two small quartz fragments before the earth swallowed the meaning again. The chamber measured barely more than a person stretched out, its walls built from edge-set slabs and projecting stones that leaned inward like hands pressing against forgetfulness.

On top of a drulin ridge in pasture. A badly damaged cairn of loose stones(L 9m, Wth 8.5m, H 1.40m). In 1996 the digger-driver removed a large stone, the capstone of a cist, during the course of the removal of a cairn. A rescue excavation was subsequently undertaken by Gibbons on behalf of the National Museum of Ireland. Rectangular short cist (dims. 1.17m NW-SE; 0.64m NE-SW; D 0.75m) whose long sides were defined principally by slabs set on edge. Its short sides were largely delimited by irregularly-shaped upright boulders. To heighten the structure at W and E, two courses of stone had been laid, one on top of the other. These stones lay almost level with the side stone on the W side. However at E they projected inwards, suggesting a partial corbelling effect. The floor comprised a single slab augmented with smaller stones. The capstone (dim. c.2m) has been displaced. The cist contained fragments of the unburnt skull of an adult individual (1996:229). No artifacts were found. However two small quartz fragments were found in proximity the cist (Cahill and Sikora, 2013, Vol 1. 88-91). Compiled by: Patrick F. O'Donovan Date of upload: 04 March 2013

Neolithic burial cairn, dating to approximately 4000–2500 BCE. Its significance lies in the presence of a stone cist, indicating early funerary practices and burial customs in the region.

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