The Burren, The Tomb, The Cave

After the Hook Lighthouse and Irish Heritage Park, you would think we would be done with historical sites. WRONG!  The next day it was off to The Burren.  “Why?”, you ask in wonderment and curiosity?!  Well, I won’t keep you in suspense. Read on, dear friend.

The Burren, taking its name from the Irish word boíreann (for rocky place), is 1800 hectares of post-glacial limestone terrain. It looks like an alien place – covered in rock as far as the eye can see. Yet tenacious nature forces its way through in the form of low-profile flowers, shrubs and woodland plants.  Its landscape is known as “karst” – the limestone full of cracks, fissures, and formations that gladden the heart of any geologist. There are lots of trails to explore and sites to see, as this type of landscape lends itself to caves and sinkholes and was also used by our ancient folks again, being a ready source of seemingly endless rock for forts, fences, and buildings.  Despite the harsh landscape, 70% of Ireland’s native plant species exist in The Burren, including some very delicate flora: 23 species of orchids and a rare sword-leaf hellebore.

Our first stop was Caherconnell Ring Fort, constructed about 1000 AD. This is one of many, many sites over this area of Ireland where excavations have found these ring forts. Caherconnell is active and a prominent site for archaeological students to learn excavation skills. Our tour guide was Stephanie, a knowledgeable and enthusiastic fountain of information. Being an archaeologist on the site and having found her own artefacts, she was full of interesting stories and the current understandings of life in the times of these people.  I always thought ring forts were defensive structures, but in the Bronze age, they were constructed almost as a homestead – small enclosures that would contain an extended family with a stone hut, a food cache, fire pit, small animal enclosure and smithy. The walls that we see today are only about half the height of the ring around the enclosure, with stones sunken or built as much as 3 metres deeper. So, the walls would have been much higher than the community and the structures inside the fort that we see are actually the tops of buried living areas.  It was also the first time I had seen walls with the rocks stacked vertically rather than horizontally. Now I can’t decide which I want to do in my yard.

A fascinating feature of the large ring fort was the presence of 2 graves – one of a woman and the other with 2 infants. DNA testing has proven that these were not members of the family that constructed the fort, but the fort was built over them and to enclose them. Status was a very big deal in the Bronze Age and status was connected to lineage. It could have been that the fort was constructed to indicate lineage, even though the graves were not those of family members.

Along with the bones of cattle, sheep and goats, excavation of the ring fort has uncovered pottery, farm tools, textile and leatherwork tools, combs, and beads, and even a silver ring with a diamond on it, matching an engraving on other items in the fort. This may have been a family icon. The silver ring was discovered by a field student in 2015 – can you imagine how freaking exciting it would be to uncover something like that! These “luxury” items showed that these cultures were healthy and wealthy enough to have spare time on their hands and even traded with others. The discovery of a writing pen was very exciting – demonstrating a knowledge and use of writing tools within the 500+ years the fort was used.

Smaller ring forts nearby may have belonged to other members of the family while the larger community would live in an open settlement beyond with more livestock and grazing lands. You can almost feel the people there, living their lives. It has an extraordinary energy in it. 

After Caherconnell, we went to the Poulnabrone Dolmen. Yes, we’ve seen dolmens before, but this one was massive! The story boards along the way were excellently written – informative, but in a story kind of way, making them easy to read and consume. The short story is that it is a portal tomb, built over 5,000 years ago, containing the remains of more than 30 people. It stands tall and huge - striking against the stark landscape of the karst. We walked the trail to the site and I noticed a site minder holding a litter picker. I asked if it was a cattle prod and he said he wished it was. And so began a lengthy and informative conversation with Joe. Not about the site, but about Ireland, the EU, the evolution of its economy, and how Ireland faces some of the same problems Canada does – housing crisis, bureaucracy, and corporate greed making it challenging for the normal folk to make a go of it.
 
One more stop was necessary for this day. We made our way to the Aillwee Caves. While they are not the most dramatic caves in the Burren, or even Ireland, they were on our route and we stopped for the tour. The cave was discovered in 1940 by a local farmer who followed his dog into the cave.  He never said much about it until the 1970s when he told some professional “cavers” about it, which resulted in it being explored fully and mapped. 

Dating suggests that the Aillwee Caves were formed before the Ice Age with water draining through vertical “grikes” in the limestone when the water would have flowed through, smoothing and eroding the rock, creating the cave.  The melting of the ice would have continued to form the cave as a ready waterway. After the Ice Age, the continued dripping of calcium-rich water through the limestone created “straws” of calcite, which eventually develop into stalactites. Similarly, stalagmites formed with water pushing up from below and bubbling over, leaving calcite deposits on the ground, building up over time. I confess, I said in my head "stalactites are stuck tight to the ceiling and stalagmites might reach the ceiling" to remember which was which.

The exploration of the cave discovered shallow hibernation pits and the bones of bears. It is believed that this might have been one of the last places the Irish brown bear existed. Interestingly, DNA on the bones shows that the Irish brown bear bred with polar bears that were moving along the retracting ice sheets. Irish bears are now extinct due to disappearing habitat.

The cave tour guide delivered the story of the cave and its history capably and knowledgeably. We couldn’t help but notice the difference between her polished, well-rehearsed delivery and Stephanie’s avid interest, curiosity, and enthusiasm at Caherconnell Stone Fort. As Peter said: “We’ve both spent enough years delivering training to feel the difference”.  Both were competent, but Stephanie was far more engaging, causing everyone in the group to “follow along with her”.

In spite of all that activity, the day wrapped a bit earlier than expected and I got home in time to jump on the bike and go over to the Lahinch Promenade to meet up with a group of riders, while Peter stayed home and caught a great photo of the solstice moon.  

It was a long day, but so worthwhile to spend time exploring these natural and manmade wonders and meeting new people!