User:MauraWen/sandbox Linkardstown tomb

A Linkardstown tomb or Linkardstown cist  is a type of unclassified megalithic tomb, typically consisting of a large cist constructed with inward leaning upright stones (orthostats) covered with a large capstone and often surrounded by a retaining wall. These tombs are found in Ireland and date from the early Neolithic (4000–3000 BC).

Description
"The cists are each placed under the center of a tumulus. The wall-slabs are placed on their edges inclining inwards from the vertical, sometimes as much as 45 degrees as at Linkardstown. They are frequently augmented by other slabs laid against them."

History
"During the first half of the fourth millennium BC, thousands of passage graves appeared on the Atlantic coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, the British Isles and France."

"A new phenomenon of constructing distinctive funerary monuments, collectively known as megalithic tombs, emerged around 4500 BCE along the Atlantic façade." https://www.pnas.org/content/116/19/9469 Megalithic tombs in western and northern Neolithic Europe were linked to a kindred society

"Linkardstown cists are so named after first excavated example at Linkardstown in Co. Carlow. The book "Early Ireland: An Introduction to Irish Prehistory" By Michael J. O'Kelly, Claire O'Kelly describe Linkardstown Cists like this:

They are built from large slabs or boulders which were arranged on the ground surface, generally in polygonal plan. The original Linkardstown Cists from county Carlow measured 2m X 2.3m at the ground level, but much smaller examples are known, some of them less than a meter in length and width. The side slabs were slanted inwards so that the dimensions at the top were less than at the ground level. All spaces between the side slabs were usually infilled with smaller pieces of stone and other slabs were placed against the outside. A capstone or capstones closed the top."

"The oldest known are found in Western Europe, dating from c 7,000 years ago. Archaeologists still do not know who erected these dolmens, which makes it difficult to know why they did it. They are generally all regarded as tombs or burial chambers, despite the absence of clear evidence for this. Human remains, sometimes accompanied by artefacts, have been found in or close to the dolmens which could be scientifically dated using radiocarbon dating. "