Project 2 on Creevykeel 

by Callum Thompson

1. Creevykeel is a court Tomb. And is one of the best examples of a court

Tomb in Ireland.

2. It is located on the foothills of Tievebaun Mountain close to the Sea near

Cliffoney and Mullaghmore county Sligo

The building of the tomb dates back to the Neolithic period. 4000-2500 BC.

It is one of five megaliths in the area.

4. The Creevykeel court tomb is made of a long  cairn which encloses  an oval court and burial chamber

5.The old name for Creevykeel is Caiseal a Bhaoisgin the fort of Bhaoisgin.Bhaosgin was the well near the cairn.Bhaosgin has become Wisken in todays Gaelic

6.The Creevykeel court tomb was excavated in 1935  The leader of the excavation was Hugh o'Neill. After excavation it was rebuilt.

7.The standing stones around the court are quite massive chunks of local sandstone studded with pieces of quartz. They get larger approaching the opening at the rear of the court.

8. The round feature in the court proved to be an early christian smelting pit where metal was worked. This addition would have been added 4,000 years after the original construction of the monument. The iron age and early christian metal workers appeared  to have liked working in ancient sites and unusual places such as megaliths and cranogs. Two Hearths were discovered outside the circular structure.

9. There were plenty of finds from the excavations at Creevykeel dating to the original use and christian period.

A piece of worked flint was found in one of the pits.  Between the dividing stones that seperate the large chamber they found a polished stone axe.

  Other finds from the inner chambers included a large flint knife about 13cm long, arrowheads, pot shards, some quartz crystals and more flint scraps.  Also the remains of at least eight pots and many fragments of pottery were found

Last changed: Dec 03 2017 at 9:06 PM