The Gleninsheen wedge tombs are two prehistoric wedge tombs located in the north central area of

the Burren The Burren ( ; ) is a karst/glaciokarst landscape centred in County Clare, on the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.

area of

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Both are aligned east-west, and there is evidence of contemporary etchings on some of the stone.

Location

The tombs are located on private property in the townland of Gleninsheen, parish of

Rathborney Rathborney, sometimes Rathbourney, () is a civil parish in the Barony of Burren in County Clare, Ireland. Location Rathborney parish is in the Barony of Burren, from the village of Burren on the road to Ennistymon. It is SSW of Ballyvaugha ...

, not far from the N480 road. One is located right next to the road. The other, partially collapsed, is around 100 m to the northeast in a field. They are among eighty wedge tombs still extant in Clare. The largest concentration of them is found on Roughan Hill near

Kilnaboy Kilnaboy or Killinaboy () is a village, townland and civil parish in County Clare, Ireland. It is located in the Burren, and as of the 2011 census the area had 347 inhabitants. Civil parish Kilnaboy is a parish in the historic Barony (Ireland ...

. In 1932, not far from the wedge tombs, a local man discovered the Gleninsheen gorget, a neck ornament dating from c. 800 to 700 BC, concealed in one of the limestone grykes. It is now on display at the

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland () is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has three branches in Dublin, the arch ...

(Kildare Street site) in Dublin. It was number 12 in the semi-official list of ''

A History of Ireland in 100 Objects ''A History of Ireland in 100 Objects'' was a joint project by ''The Irish Times'', the National Museum of Ireland, and the Royal Irish Academy to define one hundred archaeological or cultural objects that are important in the history of Ireland. ...

''.''A History of Ireland in 100 Objects'' website
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Description

The tombs are wedge-shaped in ground plan, with the widest part facing south west towards the setting sun like all tombs of this type. The setting sun is thus thought to have been of special significance to the builders. No wedge tomb in the Burren has so far been excavated, but they are tentatively dated to 2300 to 2000 BC, the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age. File:Gleninsheen gold gorget.jpg, The Gleninsheen gorget, BC,

File:Northernmost of the Gleninsheen wedge tombs - geograph.org.uk - 863985.jpg, The partially collapsed northern wedge tomb

References

Sources

* Gibbons, Michael. "Rock Art in County Clare". ''Archaeology Ireland'', 2007.

External links

Gleninsheen wedge tomb 1 at the Clare County Library
{{Tourism in County Clare Archaeological sites in County Clare Tombs in the Republic of Ireland