Ritual Aspects of Irish Portal Tombs.

Phyllis Mercer  (PhD 2)

The Neolithic megalithic monuments have captured the attention, the imagination and the intellectual curiosity of, amongst others, antiquarians, artists, writers and archaeologists, and their appeal remains enduring.  Studies of their origins and chronology, landscape setting, architecture, relationships with one another and their significance to the communities who built and used them have all included aspects of their ritual significance, but have not necessarily been primarily concerned with their ritual roles.

This study focuses on the ritual aspects of portal tombs, the least studied of the great monuments.  By keeping ritual in the foreground and using it as a lens through which to examine various aspects of the tombs, such as their contents, morphology, landscape siting and social context, it is intended that their cosmological context can be explored.  It is hoped that an increased understanding of the ritual aspects of portal tombs may add to the wider discussion on belief systems in the Neolithic period in Ireland.

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