Qualla: Killaclohane Portal Tomb https://qualla.com/killaclohane-portal-tomb en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/0/killaclohane-portal-tomb-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Killaclohane Portal Tomb https://qualla.com/killaclohane-portal-tomb Killaclohane Portal Tomb: Introduction https://qualla.com/killaclohane-portal-tomb/ Photo credit EducationKerryCountyMuseum, CC BY-SA 4.0. The capstone weighs 13.5 tonnes. Two portal stones at the front, all three of them green sandstone, all three of them glacial erratics - boulders carried into Kerry by ice sheets, dropped here when the ice melted, then chosen by Neolithic builders to mark a place of burial. The tomb was raised around 3800 BC. By 2015 it was on the verge of collapse, its supports failing under the slow weight of nearly six thousand years. A team led by Kerry County Archaeologist Dr Michael Connolly excavated, stabilised, and restored it. What they found in the burial chamber rewrote what was known about the start of agriculture in Kerry.

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Image: EducationKerryCountyMuseum | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/0/killaclohane-portal-tomb-wp/gc30-killaclohane-portal-tomb-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Killaclohane Portal Tomb: The Oldest Thing People Built in Kerry https://qualla.com/killaclohane-portal-tomb/ Photo credit EducationKerryCountyMuseum, CC BY-SA 4.0. Killaclohane Portal Tomb is the oldest known man-made structure in County Kerry and the earliest identified burial monument in the county. It dates to around 3800 BC - that is, before the construction of the Egyptian pyramids, before the invention of writing in any culture, befor...

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Image: EducationKerryCountyMuseum | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/0/killaclohane-portal-tomb-wp/gc30-killaclohane-portal-tomb-the-oldest-thing-people-built-in-kerry.mp3 0:06 2 full Killaclohane Portal Tomb: Engineering With Glacial Boulders https://qualla.com/killaclohane-portal-tomb/ Photo credit EducationKerryCountyMuseum, CC BY-SA 4.0. The portal tomb's design is at once simple and remarkable. Two tall portal stones at the front face north, framing the entrance to the burial chamber. The single massive capstone rests on top, held in place by the portal stones and the angle of the chamber walls. All three princi...

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Image: EducationKerryCountyMuseum | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/0/killaclohane-portal-tomb-wp/gc30-killaclohane-portal-tomb-engineering-with-glacial-boulders.mp3 0:06 3 full Killaclohane Portal Tomb: Three Burial Phases https://qualla.com/killaclohane-portal-tomb/ Photo credit EducationKerryCountyMuseum, CC BY-SA 4.0. The 2015 excavation produced evidence of three distinct burial phases inside the tomb. The earliest material was early Neolithic carinated bowl pottery - the oldest pottery type known in Ireland - dating to around 3700 BC. This first phase came almost immediately after the tomb w...

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Image: EducationKerryCountyMuseum | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/0/killaclohane-portal-tomb-wp/gc30-killaclohane-portal-tomb-three-burial-phases.mp3 0:06 4 full Killaclohane Portal Tomb: What the Tomb Tells Us https://qualla.com/killaclohane-portal-tomb/ Photo credit EducationKerryCountyMuseum, CC BY-SA 4.0. Before the 2015 excavation, very little was known about Neolithic settlement in Kerry or the beginning of agriculture in the county. The early Neolithic in Ireland is when farming arrives - when communities stop relying entirely on hunting and gathering and begin clearing land, p...

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Image: EducationKerryCountyMuseum | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/3/0/killaclohane-portal-tomb-wp/gc30-killaclohane-portal-tomb-what-the-tomb-tells-us.mp3 0:06 5 full