What is recorded here

Two tall stones still stand in rough Donegal pasture, but a jumbled heap of field clearance now chokes their base like a scar. The cairn may mark a forgotten fence or human laziness rather than ancient ritual, yet it forces the stones into a new shape. Gores and rushes surround the contradiction, waiting for someone to decide whether the heap is history or merely rubble.

In rough upland pasture, dotted with rushes and clumps of gorse, and strewn with stones and disused field walls. This cairn (3m NE−SW; 2.7m NW−SE; H 0.7m) surrounds the base of a pair of standing stones (DG012-018001-). The bulk of the cairn is piled against the NW face of the standing stones, and in its NE-SW length, ends more or less flush with the NW stone but extends a little beyond the SE stone. It fills the intervening space (Wth c. 0.75m NE-SW) between the stones and spills out to NW and SE between the two stones, and has a gently domed NW−SE profile. Along its NW side, medium to large sized stones, some of which are embedded in the ground surface, are visible in the basal layer of the cairn. A number of large stones lie on top of the basal layer and piled above this is a loose, jumbled heap of small to medium-sized stones, resembling field clearance. The antiquity of the cairn is uncertain. It appears to post-date the standing stones. It may be the result of the incorporation of the standing stones into a later field fence, now removed, or it may simply be a field clearance heap. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 11 July 2016

Neolithic cairn with associated standing stones, dating to approximately 4000–2500 BCE. The site represents a ritual or funerary monument, typical of early farming communities in Ireland.

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