146
(Lévi- Strauss, 1968: 207). Lewis-Williams also points out how Neolithic people
almost certainly rationalised their world view of a perceived tiered cosmos by narrating myths which likely described and regarded the cosmos ‘as a framework for
the origins, events, journeys, transformations and beings’ described in those
myths’(Lewis- Williams & Pearce, 2005: 149). Drawing on these ideas, if the analysis of horizons encountered at Neolithic passage tombs and cairns can reveal hidden
or previously unknown aspects of a cosmology, especially relating to how journeys
of the dead and afterlife were perceived, such evidence might potentially bring
insights on the myths themselves.
With the focus on naked-eye viewing of the sky in the prehistoric past, cyclical
positions of the celestial elements of the cosmos would not have perceptibly changed
in a timescale lasting several hundreds of years. The temporality of passage tomb
building in this context has three phases—Early Neolithic (3800–3600 BC), Middle
Neolithic (3600–3000 BC) and Late Neolithic (3000–2400 BC). From what is now
reliably known, Stefan Bergh and Hensey (2013) supplies 25
14
C dates obtained
from pin fragments at the Carrowmore passage tomb complex, Co. Sligo in western
Ireland. These span the period from 3775–3520 cal BC to 3304–2950 cal BC (all
95% probability), indicating deposition mostly in the Middle Neolithic. In the east
of the island, Muiris O’Sullivan et al. (2013: 32–34) provides ten radiocarbon determinations obtained from the passage tomb known as the Mound of the Hostages at
Tara, Co. Meath, dating from 3370–2930 cal BC to 2870–2470 cal BC (all 95%
probability). At the nearby Knowth complex of twenty passage tombs in the Boyne
Valley, George Eogan and Kerri Cleary (2017: 378) provides 60 AMS
14
C determinations on cremated and non-burnt human bone obtained from nine of the tombs.
The main phase of funerary activity at Knowth is considered to have begun in
3169–3045 cal BC and ended in 3020–2920 cal BC (all 95% probability), a duration
of 100–220 years. The known date for the construction of the nearby Newgrange
passage tomb similarly fits a Middle Neolithic timeframe. A programme of radiocarbon dating on human bone and cereal grains at a multi-phase passage tomb in
Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow in eastern Ireland shows an unusually long and atypical
history spanning at least six centuries, 3700–2900 cal BC (Schulting, McClatchie,
Sheridan, McLaughlin, & Whitehouse, 2017). Synthesising then, Bergh and Hensey
(2013) suggests passage tombs ‘were not static entities but were the locale for complex multi-layered and mostly poorly understood ritual practices, which evolved
over time’. Based on the available evidence, Bergh further asserts the tombs were
‘multi-phase sites, often demonstrating extensive activity both prior to, and following, the megalithic construction’. He highlights another diagnostic difference to culturally differentiate the passage tomb tradition from the Neolithic court and portal
tomb traditions—the widespread recurrence of a distinctive pin fashioned from deer
antler or animal bone, often accompanying cremated bones found within the monuments. This corroborates the observation by Michael Herity (1974) that passage
tombs contained a distinctive assemblage of artefacts and grave goods, had a unique
shape of burial chamber (cruciform) in many cases, and used embellished structural
stones unlike anything discovered in the other tomb types. Quartz spreads are
another well-known decorative feature. Additionally, and where spatial overlap
F. Prendergast
(Lévi- Strauss, 1968: 207). Lewis-Williams also points out how Neolithic people
almost certainly rationalised their world view of a perceived tiered cosmos by narrating myths which likely described and regarded the cosmos ‘as a framework for
the origins, events, journeys, transformations and beings’ described in those
myths’(Lewis- Williams & Pearce, 2005: 149). Drawing on these ideas, if the analysis of horizons encountered at Neolithic passage tombs and cairns can reveal hidden
or previously unknown aspects of a cosmology, especially relating to how journeys
of the dead and afterlife were perceived, such evidence might potentially bring
insights on the myths themselves.
With the focus on naked-eye viewing of the sky in the prehistoric past, cyclical
positions of the celestial elements of the cosmos would not have perceptibly changed
in a timescale lasting several hundreds of years. The temporality of passage tomb
building in this context has three phases—Early Neolithic (3800–3600 BC), Middle
Neolithic (3600–3000 BC) and Late Neolithic (3000–2400 BC). From what is now
reliably known, Stefan Bergh and Hensey (2013) supplies 25
14
C dates obtained
from pin fragments at the Carrowmore passage tomb complex, Co. Sligo in western
Ireland. These span the period from 3775–3520 cal BC to 3304–2950 cal BC (all
95% probability), indicating deposition mostly in the Middle Neolithic. In the east
of the island, Muiris O’Sullivan et al. (2013: 32–34) provides ten radiocarbon determinations obtained from the passage tomb known as the Mound of the Hostages at
Tara, Co. Meath, dating from 3370–2930 cal BC to 2870–2470 cal BC (all 95%
probability). At the nearby Knowth complex of twenty passage tombs in the Boyne
Valley, George Eogan and Kerri Cleary (2017: 378) provides 60 AMS
14
C determinations on cremated and non-burnt human bone obtained from nine of the tombs.
The main phase of funerary activity at Knowth is considered to have begun in
3169–3045 cal BC and ended in 3020–2920 cal BC (all 95% probability), a duration
of 100–220 years. The known date for the construction of the nearby Newgrange
passage tomb similarly fits a Middle Neolithic timeframe. A programme of radiocarbon dating on human bone and cereal grains at a multi-phase passage tomb in
Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow in eastern Ireland shows an unusually long and atypical
history spanning at least six centuries, 3700–2900 cal BC (Schulting, McClatchie,
Sheridan, McLaughlin, & Whitehouse, 2017). Synthesising then, Bergh and Hensey
(2013) suggests passage tombs ‘were not static entities but were the locale for complex multi-layered and mostly poorly understood ritual practices, which evolved
over time’. Based on the available evidence, Bergh further asserts the tombs were
‘multi-phase sites, often demonstrating extensive activity both prior to, and following, the megalithic construction’. He highlights another diagnostic difference to culturally differentiate the passage tomb tradition from the Neolithic court and portal
tomb traditions—the widespread recurrence of a distinctive pin fashioned from deer
antler or animal bone, often accompanying cremated bones found within the monuments. This corroborates the observation by Michael Herity (1974) that passage
tombs contained a distinctive assemblage of artefacts and grave goods, had a unique
shape of burial chamber (cruciform) in many cases, and used embellished structural
stones unlike anything discovered in the other tomb types. Quartz spreads are
another well-known decorative feature. Additionally, and where spatial overlap
F. Prendergast