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Enchanted Rock:

Mystery of Poulnabrone Dolmen

By Guylaine Spencer

Poulnabrone Dolmen, in the Burren region, Ireland

From a distance it looks simply like a large rock plunked down in a field of stone. A glacial deposit, you think at first. But as you get closer, it becomes clear that this rock is something special.

The Poulnabrone Dolmen is an Irish mystery. Located in a farmer’s field in the rocky Burren region on the west coast of Ireland, this 100-ton slab of limestone is obviously not a “natural” part of the landscape. Some hands, human or other, placed it here for a reason. But who? When? And why?

Questions like these that have puzzled generations, our tour guide tells us, as the bus pulls up beside a fence and we all pile out. It’s good to stretch our legs after the short journey from Galway. Gingerly, we clamor over the boulders in the field.

The word dolmen means stone table, which is exactly what the monstrous structure facing us resembles: a giant’s dining table. The broader term for this kind of object is megalith, a Greek word meaning great stone. When this dolmen was excavated in 1968, archeologists found inside it the remains of between 16 and 22 adults and 6 children, including a newborn baby.

In the early days, many people believed that megaliths were alive. Like humans, the stones were capable of dancing, drinking, speaking or singing. If you didn’t see the stones doing these things, the folk said, it was because they moved very slowly, at a speed and rhythm altogether different from that of human beings. For a small price - an offering of fruit or bread or even stones symbolizing these things - the stones might grant your wishes. They might give you offspring, or cure your sickness, or protect your newborn baby from any harm. Or they might tell you where the pot of gold or even the Golden Calf was buried.

Other people thought that the stones weren’t actually beings, but were the homes of spirits. The holes in the earth mounds led into other realms. Even the fields surrounding them were hallowed grounds -- boundaries between visible and invisible worlds. For many years, the megaliths survived intact simply because people feared what would happen if they interfered with them. Farmers plowed their fields around the stones. For the sake of a few potatoes, why risk the wrath of unseen spirits?

During the 18th century, the age of reason and doubt, scholars began to pay attention to the stones and to question the people’s faith. Maybe the stones weren’t spirits after all? Maybe they were made by human hands? But which hands? And when? Could it have been the Celts, those mysterious people Caesar had bragged about subduing by logic and force? That would have meant the megaliths were created during the first millennium. In the 19th century, the theory really took off. Relying on vague passages from classical texts and the Bible, scholars speculated that the stones were the sites of gory rituals. Images of druid priests slaying damsels on stone tables in moonlit fields before crowds of bloodthirsty pagans fueled the imaginations of the Romantic generation. Around the same time, the random and accidental discovery of bones, polished axes and flint blades near the megaliths seemed to confirm the grisly truth.

In the middle of the 1800s, archeologists began to deliberately excavate the megaliths. They found more bones, and cremated remains. To their surprise, they also discovered that the dolmens had in fact originally been covered by earth and stone. So the theory of the Celtic table ritual, spine-chilling and romantic as it was, had to be discarded.

A century later, the remaining chunks of the Celtic theory crumbled completely. In the 1940’s, Libby’s development of the dating tool Carbon 14 proved that the megaliths were older than most people had ever imagined, predating the Celts by centuries. (The Celts arrived in Ireland around 600 BC.)

Some megaliths appear to have been built around 5000 BC. The peak of building was around 4000 BC. By 1500 BC, when humans began working with copper and gold, the great age of building was over. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the burials here at Poulnadrome took place between 3800 and 3200 BC.

The question of “why” megaliths like these were built remained a mystery. Were the megaliths just burial sites? Or were they markers for travelers? Were they idols? Were they memorial tablets set up to honor heroes or leaders? Did they commemorate great battles or other significant events? Were they meeting places, or parliaments for early communities?

Scientists have measured the location of the stones and note that many of the structures were built to align at certain times with the sun, moon and stars. Did early stone-age astronomers build them as observatories? Or were they built by visitors from outer space? Were they built as temples of nature worship? Perhaps the builders sought to use them to control the forces of nature in some way.

In the end, despite the digging and the debating, it’s doubtful that we’ll ever really know the whole truth about the megaliths. But maybe the old folks were on to something when they described the stones as enchanted beings, or as boundary markers between the visible and the invisible worlds.

As I pick my way through the rocky field and board the bus back to Galway, I carry away a sense that I’ve come in touch with a world beyond my own. The past, perhaps? The world of our ancestors? Or just a different way of seeing the world?

Enchanted, indeed.

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	Real Travel Adventures International Magazine Send this Page to a Friend Flag of Ireland Enchanted Rock: Mystery of Poulnabrone Dolmen By Guylaine Spencer From a distance it looks simply like a large rock plunked down in a field of stone. A glacial deposit, you think at first. But as you get closer, it becomes clear that this rock is something special. The Poulnabrone Dolmen is an Irish mystery. Located in a farmer’s field in the rocky Burren region on the west coast of Ireland, this 100-ton slab of limestone is obviously not a “natural” part of the landscape. Some hands, human or other, placed it here for a reason. But who? When? And why? Questions like these that have puzzled generations, our tour guide tells us, as the bus pulls up beside a fence and we all pile out. It’s good to stretch our legs after the short journey from Galway. Gingerly, we clamor over the boulders in the field. The word dolmen means stone table, which is exactly what the monstrous structure facing us resembles: a giant’s dining table. The broader term for this kind of object is megalith, a Greek word meaning great stone. When this dolmen was excavated in 1968, archeologists found inside it the remains of between 16 and 22 adults and 6 children, including a newborn baby. In the early days, many people believed that megaliths were alive. Like humans, the stones were capable of dancing, drinking, speaking or singing. If you didn’t see the stones doing these things, the folk said, it was because they moved very slowly, at a speed and rhythm altogether different from that of human beings. For a small price - an offering of fruit or bread or even stones symbolizing these things - the stones might grant your wishes. They might give you offspring, or cure your sickness, or protect your newborn baby from any harm. Or they might tell you where the pot of gold or even the Golden Calf was buried. Other people thought that the stones weren’t actually beings, but were the homes of spirits. The holes in the earth mounds led into other realms. Even the fields surrounding them were hallowed grounds -- boundaries between visible and invisible worlds. For many years, the megaliths survived intact simply because people feared what would happen if they interfered with them. Farmers plowed their fields around the stones. For the sake of a few potatoes, why risk the wrath of unseen spirits? During the 18th century, the age of reason and doubt, scholars began to pay attention to the stones and to question the people’s faith. Maybe the stones weren’t spirits after all? Maybe they were made by human hands? But which hands? And when? Could it have been the Celts, those mysterious people Caesar had bragged about subduing by logic and force? That would have meant the megaliths were created during the first millennium. In the 19th century, the theory really took off. Relying on vague passages from classical texts and the Bible, scholars speculated that the stones were the sites of gory rituals. Images of druid priests slaying damsels on stone tables in moonlit fields before crowds of bloodthirsty pagans fueled the imaginations of the Romantic generation. Around the same time, the random and accidental discovery of bones, polished axes and flint blades near the megaliths seemed to confirm the grisly truth. In the middle of the 1800s, archeologists began to deliberately excavate the megaliths. They found more bones, and cremated remains. To their surprise, they also discovered that the dolmens had in fact originally been covered by earth and stone. So the theory of the Celtic table ritual, spine-chilling and romantic as it was, had to be discarded. A century later, the remaining chunks of the Celtic theory crumbled completely. In the 1940’s, Libby’s development of the dating tool Carbon 14 proved that the megaliths were older than most people had ever imagined, predating the Celts by centuries. (The Celts arrived in Ireland around 600 BC.) Some megaliths appear to have been built around 5000 BC. The peak of building was around 4000 BC. By 1500 BC, when humans began working with copper and gold, the great age of building was over. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the burials here at Poulnadrome took place between 3800 and 3200 BC. The question of “why” megaliths like these were built remained a mystery. Were the megaliths just burial sites? Or were they markers for travelers? Were they idols? Were they memorial tablets set up to honor heroes or leaders? Did they commemorate great battles or other significant events? Were they meeting places, or parliaments for early communities? Scientists have measured the location of the stones and note that many of the structures were built to align at certain times with the sun, moon and stars. Did early stone-age astronomers build them as observatories? Or were they built by visitors from outer space? Were they built as temples of nature worship? Perhaps the builders sought to use them to control the forces of nature in some way. In the end, despite the digging and the debating, it’s doubtful that we’ll ever really know the whole truth about the megaliths. But maybe the old folks were on to something when they described the stones as enchanted beings, or as boundary markers between the visible and the invisible worlds. As I pick my way through the rocky field and board the bus back to Galway, I carry away a sense that I’ve come in touch with a world beyond my own. The past, perhaps? The world of our ancestors? Or just a different way of seeing the world? Enchanted, indeed. 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