Ballybriest Dual Court Tomb: Carnanbane

This dual court tomb is unfortunately damaged, cut almost in half down the long axis of the cairn. Originally at each end, east and west, a semi-circular court led to a short, two-chambered burial gallery. Excavation in 1937 showed that there were Neolithic flints, pottery, burned bone, charcoal and a cremation burial under the cairn, and pits were sealed under this layer. The excavator interpreted this as evidence of ritual at the time of the building of the tomb, but it is possible that there was domestic activity on the site at an earlier period in the Neolithic. This and the following monument form elements in an extensive prehistoric landscape, with many sites of the Neolithic and Bronze Age, a landscape sadly now greatly altered and damaged by quarrying activity.

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