Poulnabrone Dolmen, Co. Clare
Poulnabrone dolmen (Poll na mBrón in Irish, meaning "hole of the quern stones") is a portal tomb in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland, dating back to the Neolithic period, probably between 4200 BC and 2900 BC.
Pause for a while at Ireland’s most ancient and iconic archaeological monument. For almost 6,000 years, Poulnabrone portal tomb, built by the local Burren community of that time, has stood proud within this rocky landscape. Look closely at the rocks that surround you and discover the fossils of the marine creatures that lived in the warm, shallow, tropical sea that covered this area approximately 345-326 million years ago - before dinosaurs, flowering plants or man had even evolved.
Poulnabrone represents one of the very few Irish portal tombs that have been archaeologically investigated. This excavation uncovered the remains of twenty two people, sixteen adults and six children within the interior of the tomb.The bones were disarticulated and appear to have been placed within the tomb in a de-fleshed condition.
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