Archaeology & The Art of the Ancestors.

Sketches of carvings within Brú na Bóinne by George Victor Du Noyer.

As an artist I am constantly inspired by the land of Ireland, her sacred sites and her people.

Cauldron detail from MÓR-RÍOGHAIN

For many years standing stones, cairns, rock art and archaeological finds have crept 

into my paintings.

Passage stone detail from AN CAILLEACH

Sometimes a single carving can inspire a larger painting.

Drawing of an antlered deer carving found by Eugene Conwell on a bone flake 

from Cairn H, Loughcrew.

Sketch, part of a new painting, 'Stone, Antler & Bone'.

With each view of these special places my respect for the skills of the ancient people of Ireland grows.

Carvings inside Cairn T, Loughcrew highlighted by the sun at Autumn Equinox.
More about this painting - AN CAILLEACH

Over centuries sites change, stones are taken for building or for private collections, finds removed to museums and carvings weathered or covered by lichen.

Lichen on a passage stone in the Mound of the Hostages, Hill of Tara.

Image © knowth.com

However, the meticulous recording by past generations of artists and archaeologists has left us with beautiful representations of the Art of the Ancestors.

Dublin born George Victor Du Noyer, 1817 – 1869.

George Victor Du Noyer, an Irish painter, geologist and antiquarian, was commissioned over several years by the Irish Ordnance Survey and the Geological Survey of Ireland to realistically illustrate many sites across the island. 

Du Noyer worked in watercolour and pencil and his sketches are works of art. 

Sketches of Cairns T and L, Loughcrew by George Victor Du Noyer.

Image from Durrus History

His legacy is a series of images as fresh today as they were in the 1800’s. 

Du Noyer’s sketches can be seen HERE

Around the same period J.J.A. Worsee, a Danish archaeologist, was commissioned by 

King Christian VIII of Denmark to record ‘Viking-age antiquities and monuments of Scandinavian character’ 

during his stay in Dublin. 

Illustration by James Plunket from 

‘An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland’. 

Worsee assigned James Plunket to prepare a series of watercolours showing artefacts in the collections of the Royal Irish Academy. These became known as The Plunket Watercolours or The Worsaae Drawings.

Now housed in the National Museum of Denmark, they consist of twelve large drawings depicting objects arranged by type and period. 

Each artefact, from the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and later is drawn to full scale, beautifully coloured, with great attention to detail.

As well as their artistic value the Plunket Watercolours record the provenance 

of some early finds of The RIA’s collection of Irish antiquities.

Plunket’s watercolours can be viewed HERE

In more modern times the work of the Irish-American graphic artist, Martin Brennan, 

not only recorded ancient art but challenged the way in which people viewed Ireland’s monuments. 

Images © Martin Brennan.

Together with his friends, Brennan observed and documented evidence showing that the function of the great passage tombs, such as Newgrange and Loughcrew, were not only burial mounds but were also used as astronomical observatories over 5,000 years ago.

Kerb stone 51 at Dowth, known as the ‘Stone of the Seven Suns’, © Martine Brennan.

His clear, clean illustrations, focussing on the carvings rather than the textures, provide us with an inventory of Ireland’s Megalithic Art as well as possible insights into the motivation of the ancestors.

Brennan’s book 'The Stars and the Stones', republished as
‘The Stones of Time’ can be ordered HERE

Today cameras and computers have replaced sketch books and pencils but recording the beauty and intricacy of these carvings and sacred places continues.

Stone 52 at the rear of Newgrange © Anthony Murphy of Mythical Ireland.

Photographers, such as Anthony Murphy, keep the tradition of the antiquarian and the art of the ancestors alive for future generations.

The ceiling stone in the end recess of Cairn T, Loughcrew 

© Anthony Murphy of Mythical Ireland.

Visit Mythical Ireland HERE

Long may they continue to inspire us!

The Mysterious Stone.

“ ’Tis a big yoke alright ” said Paddy,“ white and covered in circles, like someone’s taken a baked bean can to it.”

Paddy and the stone beneath a stump.

My neighbour was working for Coilte, the Forestry and his gang had cleared a section of coniferous trees up on the Slieve Bloom when Paddy came across a stone, the like of which he’d never seen. 

“Would you come and have a look?” he asked, so we agreed a day to meet.

Our destination was a small river valley lying between the shoulders of the hills. 

As we drove the landscape below stretched out as far as the Dublin mountains.

We climbed to Ballyhuppahaune and beyond. 

Past the last house and the old sheebeen.

Upwards until the road narrowed.

Ending in a forestry track, a silent place edged with mountain ash.

From there it was a hike across rough ground and islands of tree stumps until we reached the stone.

Composed of white sandstone, it was about half a metre wide, smooth and covered 

with perfect circles of of various sizes and depths. 

What was this ?

The day was warm, the valley peaceful, filled with birdsong and the murmuring Owenass River, 

so we sat and contemplated the boulder.

As my eyes wandered the designs, I saw cycles, suns, moons and carvings made by our ancestors. 

Excitement bubbled, ancient rock art in the Slieve Bloom!

But as I cleared pine needles and debris from the grooves I realised they were smooth, 

shouldn’t there be ‘pick marks’ made by tools? 

If not man made what were they? 

After a while Paddy asked what I thought and I admitted I was mystified. 

Later, I returned with friends and together we levered up the stone to peer beneath.

A few circles were marked on the underside.

We scrutinised it, we meditated on it.

Was it a bullaun stone? 

Was it rock art? 

Were those cup and ring marks?

We argued this way and that. 

After an hour or so we gave up and decided to seek the opinion of someone with more experience in rocks.

A length of white string was tied around the nearby tree stump as a marker, photographs were taken and still puzzled, we went home. 

***

The geologist, Dr. John Feehan, felt the stone was intriguing enough to make a site visit and a few days later he contacted me with his opinion: the circles were not hand carved but made by nature.

I was disappointed as my rock art theory went up in smoke, however John couldn’t say how the markings had been made.

As he sent his photographs and measurements to various geologists across the world to find the answer I eagerly awaited their conclusion, imagining huge bursting bubbles or some prehistoric creature leaving shapes in the sand.

But no answer came, the geologists were baffled too. 

Soon the stone was shrouded again in shadows and trees.

To this day the origin of The Mysterious Stone remains an enigma.

Perhaps Paddy was right. Maybe it was a man with a baked bean can after all.

Knockainey, Midsummer and the scent of Meadowsweet.

Midsummer is almost upon us, our senses filled with colour, the heady scents of woodbine 

and wild sweet pea, the sound of bees and birds. 

Almost overnight, clouds of meadowsweet appear along the boreen. 

In folk medicine meadowsweet, Airgead Luachra, ‘silver rushes’

was used to cure fevers and colds as well as easing pain. 

In Co. Galway meadowsweet was placed under the bed of a person afflicted by wasting sickness brought on by contact with the Good People. The use of the flower was fraught with danger however, as patients risked falling into a deep and deadly sleep.

Also known as Cúchulainn’s Belt, meadowsweet was said to have reduced 

the heroes’ fever and calmed his fits of rage. 

It was Àine however, the ‘bright’ goddess often associated with the sun, who gave meadowsweet its’ perfume. 

In the old tales she is described as “the best-natured of women”.

Àine is found in several places in the Irish landscape, including Lough Gur 

where she is remembered as Bean Fhionn, White Lady. 

Link to previous post about Àine & Lough Gur ~
LOUGH GUR - “a personality loved, but also feared.”

Her main residence however is her hill, Cnoc Áine, Knockainey, which is steeped in myth.

Knockainey from Bóher Na Sceach, ‘road of the thorns’. 

Ritual once took place here on Oiche Fhéile Eóin, St. John’s Eve, June 23rd.

The celebration falls close to the Summer Solstice and many believe it has its’ roots in pagan ritual. 

In legend Áine, using her magic, helped to take the hill from the Firbolg so that her people, the Tuatha Dé Danann, could settle there. 

Her price for preventing bloodshed was that “the hill were given to her till the end of the world.”  

At 528 feet high, the summit provides views across the landscape to the hills around Lough Gur, 

to Knockfierna and to the sacred fires which would once have been lit on hill tops to celebrate the changing seasons. 

Knockfierna to the west of Knockainey. 

Folklore tells that the local fairies, led by Áine, used to play a hurling match against the god, 

Donn Firinne who lived beneath Knockfierna. 

Whoever was victorious would ensure a successful potato crop.

The top of Áine’s Hill, difficult to reach in the summer months due to grazing cattle, has the remains of three mounds. These were believed to be the dwelling places of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Eogabal (said by some to be Aine's father), 

Fer Fi and Áine.

Diagram of Knockainey mounds from Thomas J. Westropp, 

 “The Ancient Sanctuaries of Knockainey and Clogher, Co. Limerick and Their Goddesses”

Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 1917 - 1919 

After visiting Knockainey Westropp describes’s Áine’s cairn as

 “a defaced, insignificant heap of earth and stones wrecked by treasure-seekers.” 

As late as the 19th century celebrations were held at Midsummer and at harvest when burning brands of hay and straw were carried to the summit.

Evans-Wentz, W. Y. - 'The Fairy-faith in Celtic Countries', London: H. Frowde, 1911.

The goddess herself was believed to lead a similar rite. 

Several wells are marked on the old maps suggesting that there may have been rituals involving water. 

One ‘curious’ well which flowed down the slope beneath her mound was recorded as 

Áine’s Well and she was said to haunt the local river as a banshee, combing her hair beside the waters of the Camòg.

All that can be found today is Mary's Well in the village.  

A series of exposed rocks, the remains of an old quarry, hide the elusive Áine Clíar's Cave.

The Hill and land around Knockainey is filled with ancient monuments, mounds and standing stones once part of Bronze and Iron Age burial traditions and ceremonies. 

The landscape holds its’ secrets but still whispers, in the summer months, of forgotten rituals, celebrations to the sun and to Áine, the “ beautiful spirit crowned with meadowsweet”.

Offerings to Áine at the river.

Click link below to read more about Knockainey & view the surrounding landscape from the summit ~ 

VOICES FROM THE DAWN