merrion street

Ms Heather Humphreys, T.D, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, today (18 July 2014) welcomed the publication of the findings from her Department’s excavations at the Neolithic portal tomb at Poulnabrone, Co. Clare, one of Ireland’s most iconic national monuments,

The ninth in the Department’s series of archaeological monographs on major excavations at State-owned national monuments, Poulnabrone: An Early Neolithic Portal Tomb in Ireland, was written by Dr. Ann Lynch, a senior archaeologist in the Department’s National Monuments Service. The monograph sheds new light on the lifestyle, rituals and ceremonies of Ireland’s pioneering farmers who arrived in the Burren at the dawn of the Neolithic, or New Stone Age, around 6000 years ago.

The monograph combines a detailed description of the results of the excavations at the Poulnabrone tomb with the findings of a range of cutting-edge specialist and scientific analysis to deliver a fascinating narrative that greatly expands the available knowledge on this renowned monument. Minister Humphreys paid tribute to Dr. Lynch and her team, going on to say that “the beautiful image of the portal tomb at Poulnabrone, standing proud on the plain of the Burren, is now complemented by the superb insights gleaned from the research detailed in this new monograph. Like so many monuments in Ireland’s unrivalled archaeological heritage, Poulnabrone has a story to tell, and the care and professionalism so evident in this monograph has provided us with the means to convey that story in an even better way, to an even wider audience.”

The monograph can be purchased from bookshops or directly from www.wordwellbooks.com.