Archaeology
Tombs and Cairns
There are dramatic remains from Ireland's early history to be found in the Park. These are the ancient stone tombs buried under giant mounds of loose rock. Here you will find a brief history of the tombs, descriptions of the two main types and their locations.
History of the Tombs
These tombs are ancient, up to 5,000 years old. They date back to a time when people began to give up hunting and gathering for food in the woodlands and coasts and settled down to live in farming communities. At this time people made their tools and weapons from stone; they also used stone to build tombs for their dead. These tombs were built with very large slabs of stone using manpower alone, and were often buried under giant mounds of loose rock known as cairns.
The widespread use of stone is the reason that this period is commonly known as the Stone Age. Historians use a Latin word for the late Stone Age - Neolithic - 'New Stone Age'. They also use Latin to describe the large stones used in the construction of tombs - Megalithic.
Despite their size it seems that not many people qualified for a tomb burial. Only a few remains have been found within them. Burial may have been reserved for community and spiritual leaders only. Other special events and rituals are likely to have taken place at the tombs. They would have been an important focal point for the community.
Types of Tomb
There are two types of ancient tomb found in the Park - passage and wedge. These tombs are often found buried beneath giant cairns.
Passage Tombs
Passage tombs are the most imposing prehistoric monuments on the landscape, often sited on hilltops, with extensive views of the countryside. We call them passage tombs because they have a passageway that leads to a burial chamber. The walls and roof of a tomb are built from large slabs of stone. The structure is buried within a cairn but a gap is left to allow entry into the passage. Large stones are often placed in circle around a tomb to form the base of the covering cairn. These stones are known as kerbstones. Many passage tombs are decorated with unique geometric patterns. This artwork can be found on stones both inside and outside tombs.
Wedge Tombs
The wedge tomb is more recent than the passage tomb. They date back to the time when people first began using metal - the Bronze Age - around 4,000 years ago. Wedge tombs are so called because of their wedge shape. They consist of a rectangular chamber often narrowing and declining in height towards the back and roofed with slabs. They normally contain cremations, but unburned burials have appeared in some. They occur singly in the landscape and are by far the most numerous tombs in Ireland.
In the early Bronze Age, both cremation and burial were practised, though cremation became more popular towards the later Bronze Ages. The burials were often accompanied by pottery and other grave goods such as jewellery, flint or bone. The pottery ranged from food vessels to vases and were often decorated quite elaborately.
Cairns
Cairns are loose stones piled into mounds. Many of the mountains in Wicklow have small cairns on the summit built by hillwalkers. However if you encounter a large cairn it is possible that it has a much more ancient origin - the cairn may be covering an ancient tomb. One tomb in the Park has a cairn that is 24 metres in diameter. Unfortunately not all cairns have survived intact over the millennia. Many have been plundered for their rocks which make for useful building material.
Locations
The north-west corner of the Park is where the tombs are concentrated. The tombs are clustered into two areas, one around Seefin Mountain and the other by Sorrel Hill.
Seefin Area
The adjacent mountains of Seefin, Seefingan and Seahan each contain prehistoric tombs and cairns. Probably the most dramatic archaeological site found in the Park is the passage tomb on the summit of Seefin Mountain (621m). The tomb is covered by a huge circular cairn which is 24 metres in diameter, 3 metres in height and has a kerb of large boulders. A narrow passage, 11 meters in length, opens into a rectangular chamber, in which there are five recesses. Only some of the recesses are visible because the roof of the chamber has collapsed allowing the loose rock of the cairn to pour in. There is some artwork on the kerbstones but it is very indistinct. The tomb was excavated in 1931/32 but dissapointingly produced no evidence of burials or other finds.
Situated on the summit of Seefingan Mt. (724m) on the Park boundary, 1.5 kilometres northeast of Seefin, is a large circular cairn. The cairn has a diameter of 20 metres and is 3 metres high. This cairn probably once covered a passage tomb that has since collapsed.
On the county border between Dublin and Wicklow, but outside the National Park boundary, sits Seahan Mt. (648m). Seahan lies 3.5 kilometres north of Seefin. Situated on the summit are a passage tomb, a cairn and a wedge tomb. On the north side of the 2 metre high cairn are the remains of the passage tomb. The chamber is exposed and visible, but broken. Most of the kerb stones are still present. To the south of the cairn, near the edge of the plateau is a wedge tomb, which is open and smashed. This is unusually high up for a wedge tomb, as most occur in the lowlands up to a height of about 300m.
Sorrel Hill Area
There is a circular cairn 20 metres in diameter situated on the summit of Sorrel Hill (599m). From here there are wonderful views of the Blessington Lakes and the Wicklow Mountains. There are large boulders around the perimeter, which may indicate the presence of a kerb at one stage.
Situated on the saddle between Sorrel Hill and Lugnagun, there is a small cairn about 10 metres in diameter. There are traces of an internal structure at the southeast side, possibly a small passage feature, . Close to here, there are also circular enclosures defined by low earth and stone banks. They are visible on aerial photographs but are hard to see on the ground. One of these enclosures is 60 metres in diameter, whereas the others are smaller, about 20 metres in diameter.
There is a passage tomb situated just south of the crest of the saddle between Lugnagun and Sorrel Hill. The tomb has a circular cairn surrounded by a kerb of small boulders. The chamber is rectangular and partly covered by a roofstone, with a possible recess opening off it. The remains of a short passage lead from the kerb to the chamber are on the south-west side.
Other Archaeological Features
Besides the imposing tombs and cairns there are many other remains left on the landscape by the ancient peoples that lived in the Wicklow Mountains. These remains give us a valuable insight into their daily lives.
Hunting Grounds
The Wicklow Mountains would have been good hunting grounds not for the early hunter-gatherers but also to provide additional meat to the later farmers. A stone arrowhead made of quartz was found above the cliffs at Lough Bray Lower. A flint arrowhead was found in this area too.
Standing Stones
Standing stones are single upright slabs of stone projecting vertically from the ground. They date back to around 4,000 years when people were first beginning to use metal - the Bronze Age. Standing stones are a common feature of the Irish countryside. They were erected mainly for ceremonial and ritual purposes, but some were related to burial. Later on, they may have been used to mark routeways and boundaries. Standing stones are usually sited in prominent locations near the summits of hills and on the sides of valleys, they can occur on their own or as a part of a larger prehistoric site. Some smaller upright stones can be inscribed with Ogham - an ancient alphabet consisting of dots and strokes cut along the edge of a stone. Ogham stones date from early Christian times.
Glasnamullen
There is a 0.8 metre high granite standing stone situated in the Glasnamullen area, on the east side of Djouce Mountain. The stone is oriented north to south and sitting on a small platform.
Tonelagee
There is a standing stone on Tonelagee Mountain, south of the summit, above the cliffs over Lough Ouler. It is a flat slab of mica schist and about 10 centimetres thick. The stone is set in a rough and uneven socket of small stones. On each face of the slab, there is a roughly shaped Latin cross incised. Each cross is cut to a depth of about 10 mm. This stone has not been associated with any specific church site or graveyard and may be a boundary marker.
Fulachta Fia
Fulachta Fia are ancient cooking places, which usually appear on the landscape as small mounds. They are numerous in Ireland, there are over 5,000 recorded. Fulacht means cooking pit. Fiadh perhaps derives from the Irish word 'fia' meaning deer or from 'fian' meaning wild. Or possibly from ancient Irish tribe the 'Fianna', who are described as having used these sites. They consist of a pit, dug near a stream, lined with wood, stone or clay then filled with water. Meat was cooked in the water, which was heated by hot stones taken from a nearby fire. Used stones were dumped around the pit. These stones grew into the mounds we see today.
Ballinabrocky
One such site is at Ballinabrocky which is situated at the western edge of the Park. It is located at the southeast end of a small valley near a stream which flows into the River Liffey. It appears on the landscape as a crescent shaped mound. The cooking area measures 10 metres by 5 metres.
Rock Art
Rock Art occurs on boulders and rock outcrops. This kind of art has been dated to the Bronze Age, though it has similarities to earlier passage tomb art. The types of markings made on the rocks include cup marks, circles, concentric circles and radial lines. If the art had any special meaning or purpose it is unknown. Some think that the art was related to the presence of mineral deposits or more recent theories relate it to boundaries and routeways.
Camaderry
One example of rock art found in the Park is a mica schist rock with 18 cup marks that was found at the base of Camaderry Mountain. It was found in 1877 near the east end of the Upper Lake. It was later moved to the monastic site.
Bullaun Stones
The word bullaun means bowl or hollow. Bullaun stones are boulders with round or oval bowl-like hollows cut out of the stone. They are often found in association with early ecclesiastical sites. Their association with church sites suggests that they may have been used for religious reasons. The water which gathered in them was believed to have curative properties. They may also have been used for grinding and crushing foodstuffs and dyes. Bullaun stones are found singly or in groups often with multiple hollows. There have been a number of Bullaun stones found in or around the Park, most likely because its proximity to Glendalough monastic site and St. Kevin's pilgrimmage route.
Derrybawn
One example of a bullaun stone is at the base of Derrybawn Mountain, beside the Glenealo River, to the South of St. Kevin's Church. Here there is a granite stone with a single conical basin and curved sides. This stone is known as the 'Deer Stone'. The name derives from the story that a deer shed its milk in the basin for St. Kevin to drink.
Charcoal Platforms
Charcoal platforms were areas where charcoal was produced on an industrial scale. The platforms where constructed in woodlands by making a small clearing and leveling the slope of the ground. Charcoal was made by slowly burning wood in a large stack that was deprived of oxygen. Charcoal was lighter to transport than wood and burned at a much higher temperature which made it useful for smelting iron ore. Two and a quarter tons of charcoal was needed to produce one ton of bar iron. Charcoal production was at its height in the 17th and 18th centuries. To ensure a sustainable supply trees were coppiced, i.e. the tree was cut down to the base, in a way that it would grow again from the base. Oak, of which there was plenty in Wicklow at the time, was the preferred wood for charcoal production. There was a high demand for fuel at this time, iron ore smelting was carried out locally and usually took place in the summer months. There are 75 oval shaped charcoal platforms in Glendalough. They are scattered at irregular intervals on the north and south sides of the Upper Lake of Glendalough. Each platform still has a deep layer of charcoal but this is no longer visible. Around Reefert Church, in the Glendalough oakwoods, there are nine platforms ranging in size, seven were most likely used for charcoal burning, two others were perhaps hut platforms.
Ironworks
There is a small area of ironworking activity represented by pits and areas of furnace debris discovered during excavation before the development of the Glendalough Visitor Centre. There were also pottery finds, which were dated to the 13/14th century.
Millstones
There is no evidence of early mills standing in the Park, however, Glendalough provided the source of granite for making millstones. Clearly visible from the Miners' Road in Glendalough a millstone sits in the marsh at the west end of the lake. This unfinished millstone has a cylindrical, flat-bottomed recess in the centre of the upper face.