MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE: NEW RECORDINGS OF MEGALITHIC ART IN NORTH‐WEST IRELAND

Abstract

SummaryIn this paper new and previously known passage tomb art in north‐west Ireland is recorded using an innovative recording technique. The use of this method, which involves vector drawing from digital photographs taken with oblique lighting (VeDPOL), has clarified and increased the instances of megalithic carving in the north‐west of Ireland. At two monuments – Listoghil and Heapstown Cairn – the new recordings have allowed us to contextualize the art within the broader corpus of passage tomb motifs. Additionally, it is proposed that one of the carvings from Listoghil is of later prehistoric origin and not Neolithic as previously believed. Finally, and most importantly, this paper highlights a group of motifs recently found at Cairn B in the Carrowkeel‐Keashcorran complex. This discovery demonstrates for the first time that megalithic art was a feature of all four major passage tomb complexes in Ireland.