Rathwulven BC
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I am currently preparing to return to Ireland, this time for a 14 day stay in the Wicklow Mountains. Last year, due to a severe injury during the descend of the Great Sugar Loaf, I was forced to quit the trip earlier than expected. Time to recap...
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This is the story of seven days in the wilderness of the majestic Irish highlands; a story about the (re)discovery of the sublime, the mysterious and humaneness as such…
Above: View on mount Tóin Dubh, photographed from the crest of Ravens Rock.
Below: Slope of mount Prince William’s Seat, covered in seasoned conifer forests.
Up in the northern Wicklow Mountains, enclosed by two ancient giants named Kilmashogue and Prince William’s Seat, lies the mystery of a prehistoric megalithic structure: A cairn ruin hiding an ancient cist grave dating back to the neolithic era. The word cairn derives from the Scottish Gaellic terminus càrn referring to human-made structures built by means of piling up stones, distinct in their phallic or dome-shaped appearance. These megalithic constructions are still debated today as there are many assumptions on what their respective individual purposes may have been. Most cairns are interpreted as man-made landmarks supposedly guiding early seafarers and travelers on their journeys across both land and sea. Many younger, more “modern” cairns may have been erected for artistic, historical or memorial commemoration.
Above: A so called cist, serving as an ossuary (stone-made coffin used to hold the remains of the dead) and discovered on the southern edge of Dartmoor in Drizzlecombe (England).
Below: The open cairn of Tibradden Mountain, formerly holding the cinerary urn of Bródáin, a man of unknown rank, reputation and origin.
Excavated in 1849 by the Royal Irish Academy, the historic site of Tibradden Mountain (also known as Sliabh Thigh Bródáin in Irish Gaellic) still prompts plenty of questions in our contemporary times: Archaeologists discovered a pottery vessel containing the cremated remains of a man all too often considered to be a former High King of Ireland known by the name Niall Glúndub mac Áedo. Perpetuated by Irish folklore and populism, this myth manifests in both commercialized, touristic pamphlets as well as in pseudo-scientific literature. Yet this story must be tackled, for it is nothing but hogwash: The historical figure Niall Glúndub reigned throughout the 10th century a.d. and died in 919 a.d. The neolithic era, on the other hand, started around some 10.000 years b.c. and ended around 2.000 b.c. - taking any credibility from the wide-spread romanticizing, yet nonfactual attribution of this burial site to the ancient ruler Niall Glúndub.
So who was this man for whom our ancestors once built such an extraordinary tomb right on top of the crest of an ancient, Irish mountain? Why did they heave some estimated 400-600 stones measuring some 30cm to 60cm in diameter up onto an altitude of 467 height meters? What set of believes must have governed this antique society which elevated a single individual as close to the heavens as they possibly could? Is this tomb the final resting place of a ruler? A druid? A seer? Maybe even a mystic half god raised to dwell among his kin throughout the afterlife? And why were there no other artifacts to be found except the very clay urn itself?
Above: The infamous spiral stone of mount Thigh Bródáin.
Named after the hill he has been buried, the dead man now referred to as Bródáin, seems to be accompanied on his last journey by relic known as the spiral stone. Unfortunately this “relic” is nothing but the manifestation of modern day’s vandalism: Despite suggesting that the cairn grave might be some place of spiritual, ritualistic gatherings, it - unfortunately - is nothing more than what archaeologists label “graffiti”. Chiseled into rock by a rambler, or maybe a couple of wanderers. But no matter if considering this “artifact” a violation of sacred burial ground or considering it a contribution to the realm of enigmas - the spiral stone illustrates something marvelous: Since thousands of years, man is attracted to very location, resonating with the spirits of our ancestors, exploring the very few traces they left for all generations that were to come.
Below: A megalithic memorial on top of mount Thigh Bródáin, probably dating back to the late neolithicum.
One thing becomes quite apparent when dwelling in and around the house of Bródáin, far up in Irelands regal plateaus: Compared to mother earth and all that ever existed, man is nothing. A swift and brisk manifestation of matter appearing right in the middle of an endless axis of time. Vanishing into nothingness, unsalvageable even by the desperate attempt to commemorate his short existence carved into masses of stone. Just as Niall Glúndub and Bródáin ceased to be, we will also - one minute at a time - depart from this life. Taken by the forces of nature who gave birth to us in the first place. A simple, yet both profound and liberating realization.
===
This is the story of seven days in the wilderness of the majestic Irish highlands; a story about the (re)discovery of the sublime, the mysterious and humaneness as such…
Above: View on mount Tóin Dubh, photographed from the crest of Ravens Rock.
Below: Slope of mount Prince William’s Seat, covered in seasoned conifer forests.
Up in the northern Wicklow Mountains, enclosed by two ancient giants named Kilmashogue and Prince William’s Seat, lies the mystery of a prehistoric megalithic structure: A cairn ruin hiding an ancient cist grave dating back to the neolithic era. The word cairn derives from the Scottish Gaellic terminus càrn referring to human-made structures built by means of piling up stones, distinct in their phallic or dome-shaped appearance. These megalithic constructions are still debated today as there are many assumptions on what their respective individual purposes may have been. Most cairns are interpreted as man-made landmarks supposedly guiding early seafarers and travelers on their journeys across both land and sea. Many younger, more “modern” cairns may have been erected for artistic, historical or memorial commemoration.
Above: A so called cist, serving as an ossuary (stone-made coffin used to hold the remains of the dead) and discovered on the southern edge of Dartmoor in Drizzlecombe (England).
Below: The open cairn of Tibradden Mountain, formerly holding the cinerary urn of Bródáin, a man of unknown rank, reputation and origin.
Excavated in 1849 by the Royal Irish Academy, the historic site of Tibradden Mountain (also known as Sliabh Thigh Bródáin in Irish Gaellic) still prompts plenty of questions in our contemporary times: Archaeologists discovered a pottery vessel containing the cremated remains of a man all too often considered to be a former High King of Ireland known by the name Niall Glúndub mac Áedo. Perpetuated by Irish folklore and populism, this myth manifests in both commercialized, touristic pamphlets as well as in pseudo-scientific literature. Yet this story must be tackled, for it is nothing but hogwash: The historical figure Niall Glúndub reigned throughout the 10th century a.d. and died in 919 a.d. The neolithic era, on the other hand, started around some 10.000 years b.c. and ended around 2.000 b.c. - taking any credibility from the wide-spread romanticizing, yet nonfactual attribution of this burial site to the ancient ruler Niall Glúndub.
So who was this man for whom our ancestors once built such an extraordinary tomb right on top of the crest of an ancient, Irish mountain? Why did they heave some estimated 400-600 stones measuring some 30cm to 60cm in diameter up onto an altitude of 467 height meters? What set of believes must have governed this antique society which elevated a single individual as close to the heavens as they possibly could? Is this tomb the final resting place of a ruler? A druid? A seer? Maybe even a mystic half god raised to dwell among his kin throughout the afterlife? And why were there no other artifacts to be found except the very clay urn itself?
Above: The infamous spiral stone of mount Thigh Bródáin.
Named after the hill he has been buried, the dead man now referred to as Bródáin, seems to be accompanied on his last journey by relic known as the spiral stone. Unfortunately this “relic” is nothing but the manifestation of modern day’s vandalism: Despite suggesting that the cairn grave might be some place of spiritual, ritualistic gatherings, it - unfortunately - is nothing more than what archaeologists label “graffiti”. Chiseled into rock by a rambler, or maybe a couple of wanderers. But no matter if considering this “artifact” a violation of sacred burial ground or considering it a contribution to the realm of enigmas - the spiral stone illustrates something marvelous: Since thousands of years, man is attracted to very location, resonating with the spirits of our ancestors, exploring the very few traces they left for all generations that were to come.
Below: A megalithic memorial on top of mount Thigh Bródáin, probably dating back to the late neolithicum.
One thing becomes quite apparent when dwelling in and around the house of Bródáin, far up in Irelands regal plateaus: Compared to mother earth and all that ever existed, man is nothing. A swift and brisk manifestation of matter appearing right in the middle of an endless axis of time. Vanishing into nothingness, unsalvageable even by the desperate attempt to commemorate his short existence carved into masses of stone. Just as Niall Glúndub and Bródáin ceased to be, we will also - one minute at a time - depart from this life. Taken by the forces of nature who gave birth to us in the first place. A simple, yet both profound and liberating realization.
