Cairn H, Carrowkeel

Cairn H, one of the many cairns of the Carrowkeel complex on the Bricklieve Mountains, Co. Sligo. These cairns are thought to have been built on the limestone hills as much as 5,500 years ago, making them older than the great passage-tombs of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth. Eight of the cairns at Carrowkeel, including Cairn H, were excavated in 1911 by RAS Macalister, Robert Lloyd Praeger and E.C.R. Armstrong. There is a remarkable story about the bones that they excavated from the cairns. Those bones were lost for around 80 years, until they turned up in a laboratory in Cambridge, England, in 2001. They were later examined by geneticists and important information about the people of the Neolithic was extracted from the aDNA (ancient DNA). The results of this scientific examination of the bones also told us something about the sequence of activity at Carrowkeel. In the early years of the use of the cairns, there were just deer antler objects buried in them. Later, humans were buried or interred, their bones in fragmented form. The last phase of activity involved the burial of human skull fragments. 

A journey to the Carrowkeel cairns is highly recommended. They are off the beaten track, but a hike to the cairns is rewarded with remarkable and breathtaking views over the surrounding landscape - if, of course, it isn't foggy, which it was on the morning this photo was taken. The mist brought a very special dimension to this image.