A Yankee's Corkboard: Archaeology Field Trip #2!

Today, my archaeology class took a field trip to a few places in North Cork--including Cashel, the following is our adventure!

Our first stop was the Labbacallee Wedge Tomb

One of the largest wedge tombs in Ireland, it consists of a large rectangular chamber with a smaller chamber at the back

At one point out professor asked, "does anyone know any Irish? Are any of you taking Irish classes?", silence...no one wanted to be put on the spot it seemed..., "Does anyone know 'leaba', what leaba means?"...silence again. (pronounced as 'la-bah')
I finally piped up and said it was the word for 'bed'. "Yes!" he said, "you wouldn't happen to know the word cailleach, would ye?" I was at a loss there.

It apparently means 'witch', or 'wise-woman'. So the name means, more or less, 'bed of the wise-woman'.

One of the other students leaned over to look at me, and gave the thumbs-up, making that "I'm impressed" face.

It made me happy, recognizing how even with my limited Irish I could put together some understanding of the tomb.

In front of the gallery are the remains of a rectangular, un-roofed portico or antichamber, cut off from the gallery by a large slab.

The tomb itself is triple walled and has three large capstones which slope towards the back...

...The largest of these weighs 10 tons.

There were little white flowers everywhere which I recognized but could not remember the name of. When I asked Leo, she told me that they were

schneeglöckchen, or 'snow bells'.

I recognized them as 'Spring Snowdrop', one of the first flowers to bloom in spring, it is sturdy--native to the UK and widely spread throughout northern Europe--its deceptive fragility is emblematic of life overcoming all difficulties.

A view inside...

Inside, during an excavation, were found the remains of 3 people:

one young adult (male)

one infant/young child (sex unknown)

and the skull of one elderly woman

The rest of the woman's body was found in the separate/smaller chamber.

leftover stones from the cairn...

The remains of the woman found here was shown to have a deformed leg--a cripple. She would have had to have been taken care of by the community her whole life. Oftentimes, those with physical disabilities were thought to have extra-special abilities in other areas, healing or wisdom for example. Also, the fact that the woman was buried in this tomb, and in a prestigious positioning within the tomb, means she must have been important/revered/honored. Perhaps the tomb's name is because of this?

The whole time our professor was talking to us about the site the crows were very loud. To be fair, we were all standing under their nests...

This tomb is from the Chalocolithic (Copper Age), composed of local limestone.

The entrances of wedge tombs usually face the West,this one was no exception.

Ribbons were hung from the trees nearby, people still honor this place.

This was a wonderful experience!

Our next stop was Glanworth Castle. Before we got off the bus we were warned to stay clear of the water and stay on the path. The river here runs deceptively fast apparently...but it is pretty.

Though the fast-running water powers/once powered a mill...

...It was so pretty, though it seemed abandoned. I would love to live there.

We could see, around the house, our next destination.

Though we yet had some stairs to climb...

I greatly dislike heights.

Leo thought I was being silly--we even had a hand railing this time!

The central portion of this castle was built in the 13th century, probably by the Anglo-Norman Candon family. (see below)

The Keep (see above) was the family's residence.

Our professor walked around pointing out features like window-types, the curtain wall, gatehouse, prison, etc.

Standing precariously close to the exit chutes for the garderobes (dry toilets) we stopped to look at the surrounding landscape...

Later, a girl who must not have heard our professor (or known what garderobes were) was investigating them, even putting her camera inside to see where they went. I almost didn't have the heart to tell her she was looking up the end of a toilet, but I didn't have to. She figured it out right as her friend (and I) were about to intervene.

Our professor spoke about how this had changed (more or less)into a nucleated settlement surrounded by 3 churches:

one for lepers (in what is now the main town),

one that functions largely as a graveyard,

and a monastery.

These 'windows' were a much later addition obviously--having gaping holes in your curtain wall renders it rather useless as a defensive feature...

As for the keep, the little door on your left was also a much more modern addition, the huge hole higher up was most likely the original door...

Here is a view through the bars of the keep's 'door',though we were told we were not really missing anything as there is not much at all inside now.

I thought it funny, that after warning us all not to do too much 'clambering all over the place", as soon as we were set free to explore we essentially did just that.

A view down into what would have been the prison...

I too was guilty of climbing on things...

...to get a better view of things, that is, until I remembered just how much I hated heights.

I figured out how to do the timer on my camera again,and setting it on a nearby wall, snapped a shot for Leo and myself!

And we departed again for the buses, passing the outer curtain-wall and the plaque I missed on the way in.

We were on our way to the Rock of Cashel...I was lucky to get this picture of a ruined church and it's pretty window as the bus sped by...

When we stopped in Cashel we had about 50 minutes for lunch. Leo and I stopped ata place called Cafe-Hans.

I got a sandwhich which included smoked salmon, crab-meat, and prawns...I was very happy :)

We thought this creamer was the cutest thing!

And it made me happy to know that mom and I are not the only ones who wrap things in napkins and take them home so they won't be wasted!

We took a brisk pace up the hill to where we were to meet the class (or as fast as we could go on very full stomachs)...

...Only to see our class walking towards US.

We weren't late, were we? Nope. It had just closed due to the high winds--fear of falling debris and people's safety.

But did that deter us at all? No way! we walked around it to find a new educational destination!

Down the hill behind Cashel we could just barely make out our goal...

Archaeology trips seem to have a theme of hopping over fences and trudging through fields...

The wind was really picking up now...

My glasses were actually blown off of my face and I felt like someone pushed me down the hill.

Sited on a rocky prominence overlooking the south Tipperary plain, Cashel is a naturally defensive site chosen as the main stronghold of the

Éoganacht kings of Munster during the early medieval period.

It was given to the church by Muircheartach Ua Briain in 1101 and was made into an archiepiscopal center soon afterwards.

A number of monuments dating back to this period of church reform survive at the site including a round tower (left), a high cross, a royal sarcophagus and Cormac's Chapel, one of the earliest and finest Romanesque churches in Ireland.

The largest building on the rock is the 13th century cathedral, which features some excellent sculptural details and is largely intact except its roof and east window.

We, however, we headed for
Hore Abbey (a ruined Cistercian monastery)

I have video to show just how darn windy it was... but I doesn't like to load...

These windows would have had stained glass and would not have been filled in half-way up...

I would love to see what this would have been like...

There was pretty 13th century Gothic-style decoration all around the place...

Such as this--what is left of a plaster mold--it had a nice design...

Our professor pointed out the tomb niche...you'd have to be important/rich to be buried here, to have the luxury of having monks pray and chant here for so many hours a day...

...and the piscinas:
a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels

"yield"

And now we had to hike back UP the hill--into the wind--to get back to the buses...

I meant to get a picture of me in front of the statue of dancing children in front of the visitor's center like I did 7 years ago...I forgot (and there was no time left besides)