Bohonagh is an
axial stone circle
An axial stone circle is a megalithic ring of stones of a particular design found in County Cork and County Kerry in southwest Ireland. Archaeologists have found it convenient to consider the axial five-stone circle and axial multiple-stone circ ...
located 2.4 km east of
Rosscarbery
Rosscarbery () is a village and census town in County Cork, Ireland. The village is on a shallow estuary, which opens onto Rosscarbery Bay. Rosscarbery is in the Cork South-West (Dáil Éireann) constituency, which has three seats.
History
The ...
,
County Cork
County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. The circle is thought to date from the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
. A boulder burial is sited nearby
(grid ref: 308 368).
Features
The stone circle comprised 13 stones set in a circle with a diameter of 30 ft. Four out of the 13 stones are missing and three were re-erected after excavation. Two
portal stones
This article describes several characteristic architectural elements typical of European megalithic ( Stone Age) structures.
Forecourt
In archaeology, a forecourt is the name given to the area in front of certain types of chamber tomb. Forecourts ...
are set radially on an east–west axis to the recumbent stones and are 240 cm high. At just under 8 ft, these stone are among the tallest of any Irish stone circle. The axis from these stones to the large axial-stone on the west side, points to sunset at the
equinox
A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" and se ...
es.
Many of the stones have quartz inclusions and many small pieces of quartz are associated with the circle.
A boulder burial is sited 20m east of the circle, and its large capstone (weighing almost 20 tons
) has seven or more small
cup-marks on the upper surface. Two of the three small supporting stones are of
quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...
and a fourth has been uprooted. A nearby loose slab also features cup-marks. The complex, which included a wooden house (which had been excavated) is of Bronze Age date.
Excavations
In 1959 the site was excavated and a central pit containing charcoal and cremated bone was found.
See also
*
List of megalithic monuments in Cork
References
Sources
* McNally, Kenneth (2006). "Ireland's Ancient Stones" (Belfast: Appletree Press).
External links
Irish Megaliths - Photographs of Bohonagh
Stone circles in Ireland
Archaeological sites in County Cork
Rosscarbery
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