Knockoneill Court Tomb

This megalithic tomb dates to the Neolitic or New Stone Age (4000-2500BC). It gets its name from the semi-circular forecourt of upright stones that lead to a gallery. In most cases the dead would have been cremated and their remains placed in the gallery together with some belongings and food for their journey to the after-life.

This court tomb is unusual in that it has a subsidiary chamber at the back of the gallery, which is entered via a passage in the side of the tomb. More unusual is the fact that the back stone of the main gallery is used as a side stone of the subsidiary chamber. The site may have been used into the Bronze Age as a round cairn. Clearly there was activity over a long period at this site throughput prehistory.

Excavations at the site in 1948, 1977, and more recently in 1984 produced charred bones and an urn dating to the Bronze Age located to the south of the tomb and in the forecourt respectively. The majority of court tombs are found in the north of the island of Ireland with the majority of those with subsidiary chambers found in mid Ulster and north Connacht. Seven court tombs are located in County Londonderry

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