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Showing posts from March, 2021

Archaeology 360: Beaghmore Stone Circles, Co Tyrone

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It seems so long ago now, but during one of the inter-lockdown periods of last year the Chapple family headed for the distant shores of mid-Ulster to spend a few days in the open air and experiencing some of the great archaeology of the Tyrone/Fermanagh area. Along the way the Chapples Minor were fed, watered, and introduced to some of the most beautiful and important archaeological sites anywhere you choose to look ... well, in my opinion at any rate. First on our virtual tour is the Beaghmore complex of Early Bronze Age cairns, stone circles and stone alignments. From excavations carried out from the 1940s onward it has been established that the area has been inhabited since the Neolithic period and that some of the later Bronze Age monuments directly overlie the remains of Neolithic field walls etc. Over-farming throughout these early periods led to a deterioration of soil quality and eventually resulted in the grown of substantial bog cover, which enveloped and protected the site.