Poulnabrone Dolmen

About

Poulnabrone Dolmen was erected atop one of the highest points in the region sometime between 4200 BC and 2900 BC. Made by prehistoric farmers, the site could have been used for rituals or as a territorial marker, along with serving as a collective tomb. Originally, it would have been covered with soil and capped by a cairn, but centuries of exposure to the elements has revealed the monumental "stone skeleton". When the site was first excavated, the remains of around 33 people were found, along with various stone and bone objects they were buried with. The dolmen’s unusually large size and dramatic, isolated location has made it the best known and most iconic of the nearly 200 dolmens discovered in Ireland.