Miosgán Meadhbha

Miosgán Meadhbha,[1] anglicized Miosgan Meva and also called Maeve's Cairn,[2] is a large cairn on the summit of Knocknarea in County Sligo, Ireland.[3] It is thought to conceal a passage tomb from the Neolithic (New Stone Age).[4] It is the largest cairn in Ireland, excepting those at Brú na Bóinne in Meath.[5]

Miosgán Meadhbha
Alternative nameMaeve's Cairn
Official nameQueen Maeve's Tomb (Knocknarea)
Reference no.153

The cairn is about 55 metres (180 ft) wide and 10 metres (33 ft) high.[6] The cairn is flat-topped and several kerbstones can be seen on the northern side. It is believed to date to around 3000 BCE.[1] Archaeologist Stefan Bergh, in his book Landscape of the Monuments (1995), suggests that a large hollow some way to the west of the cairn was the quarry from which the stones were taken.[6]

The cairn is a protected National Monument. In recent years, archaeologists have warned that the cairn is being eroded by hikers climbing on it and moving or removing stones. The large number of climbers is leaving scars on the cairn and may be destabilizing the tomb inside.[7][8] Irish folklore holds that it is bad luck to damage or disrespect such tombs and that doing so could bring a curse.[9][10]

Miosgán Meadhbha is Irish for "Meadhbh's heap".[1] Meadhbh is a queen of Connacht in Irish mythology, who is believed to have originally been a sovereignty goddess.[11]

References
  1. Scarre, Christopher (2002). Monuments and Landscape in Atlantic Europe: Perception and Society During the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Routledge. p. 145. ISBN 978-0415273145.
  2. "Meascán Mhéabha/Miosgan Meva". Placenames Database of Ireland.
  3. Bergh, Stefan (2000). "Transforming Knocknarea: The Archaeology of a Mountain". Archaeology Ireland. 14 (2): 14–18. ISSN 0790-892X.
  4. "History of Knocknarea". Go Strandhill. 18 January 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  5. "Ancient Places". Sligo.ie. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  6. Bergh, Stefan (1995) Landscape of the monuments. A study of the passage tombs in the Cúil Irra region, Co. Sligo, Ireland. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet Arkeologiska Undersökningar ISBN 9171929452
  7. "Hikers putting 5,000-year-old Co Sligo cairn at risk". The Irish Times, 13 January 2019.
  8. "Sligo Weekender: Thousands of feet are destroying our heritage". 29 September 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  9. Sarah Champion & Gabriel Cooney. "Chapter 13: Naming the Places, Naming the Stones". Archaeology and Folklore. Routledge, 2005. p.193
  10. Doherty, Gillian. The Irish Ordnance Survey: History, Culture and Memory. Four Courts Press, 2004. p.89
  11. Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition. Prentice Hall Press, 1991. pp. 294–295

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