The grave of queen Maeve on Knocknarea mountain is an unexcavated passage tomb. It has so many features similar to Newgrange its expected to be aligned in the same way to the Winter solstice.
Maeves cairn had a ring of standing stones around it and the remnants of smaller passage tombs. Another hint to its function is the name of the nearby lake Lough Geal, meaning the bright/shining lake.
Queen Maeve is the Queen of Connacht in the Tain, the antagonist of the story who leads the armies of Ireland against Cu Chulainn. But outside the narrative of the story she was possibly a Sovereignty Queen/A tutelary goddess that personified that type of deities role in the kingship cult and the sacred marriage.
Maeves name means ‘the intoxicating one’ and she is linked to Tara Hill the site of the literary high king cult its possible her name means she is the personification of one part of the polytheist inauguration ritual there. The king accepts the tutelary goddesses favour in a ritualized consuming of mead or ale presented to him in literature by a goddess.
Another interesting feature of Maeves Cairn and the others in the area is theyre on mountains and mists and clouds form around them. The passage tombs are venerated as Bruidne, places where deities live and the Tuatha de Danann are supposed to arrive on a cloud of mist in some stories. Maybe when we see that mist today were sharing an experience with people of the past who thought it was a sign their gods were coming down from the Bruidne in the mists.
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This November archaeologists found human bones one of the caves in Knocknarea. It means between 5,000 and 5,500 years ago people carried the corpses of their dead up a sacred mountain. After a hard climb carrying the bodies, they squeezed through the narrow cave entrance, and laid their dead on the cave floor.
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Its not just the stone age Caves and Mountains are places linked with death in the medieval too, Croagh Patrick/Cruachan Aigle was home to Dearg the god of the dead, and a cave in lough dearg was a place pilgrims could go to get a glimpse of hell. Saint Patrick stands on Croagh Patrick and demands the Angel Victor send all Irish people to him after they die… What is it about mountains that creates that common psychological impact across vast spans of time and very different societies?Marion Dowd was one of my professor’s at IT Sligo when I was studying Archaeology.
Queen medb’s cairn, like a lot of Irish Archaeological site (including Newgrange and many more) have been desecrated by the public, purely because even though when after an excavation was done, and it’s proved to be a site from a certain era, the Irish government doesn’t protect it’s archaeological sites.
Tourists and people from Ireland and encourage to pick a rock from the base of the mountain and take the hike up to the Cairn. When they get to the top, they throw the rock they picked onto the Cairn. It’s no longer perceived to be an archaeological site, because archaeologists cannot tell where the cairn starts and where it stops, and it continues to grow.
I am glad that they have found new evidence in the caves surrounding the Cairn, as this was something I spoke to Marion about before. I’m sure we’ll be seeing another book from her! ^_^
But there are so many archaeological sites in Ireland (especially here in Sligo) which are constantly being desecrated, by people climbing them, and carrying on traditions that in fact are destroying the sites.
Croagh Patrick being firmly in the no.1 spot.
Do you think the growing cairn is a negative trad?
Ive seen tourists chipping away at decorated orthostats here and met them abroad proudly showing off lumps they took from standing stones. The state doesnt protect the sites properly but then, its not their responsibility. Its ours.
All the state does is keep the roads, hospitals etc going, the affectation it cares about culture is only down to us living in a nation state. They use an invented national identity as a mandate but because its invented actual heritage could be obliterated without them needing to pay any attention at all.
Sure look at our culture, in the 20th century we had 5 indigenous languages. Now 2 ethnicities are gone completely. The travellers are only still around because theyre nomadic, the scots are only around because of partition. Not only do they not care, they actively predate on culture.
The Cave at Knocknarea where the bones were found.
I have to say even if they are portals to the afterlife, places linked with death deities, pig cults around death feasts, portals to hell. They are still very cool
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