Quartz Crystal

Poulnabrone, County Clare

Poulnabrone Portal Tomb on the Burren dates to the Neolithic and a series of radiocarbon dates on bones found there range from c3800-3200 BC.

The tomb consists of a single chamber with the entrance flanked by two large portal stones and topped with an enormous capstone.

The chamber is encased in a very low cairn, which may not have been any higher in antiquity. The chamber contained the disarticulated bones of at least 21 Neolithic men, women and children as well as bones of cattle, sheep/goat, dog and other smaller animals. Just outside the entrance, the complete skeleton of a Bronze Age newborn baby was found.

Quartz crystals and white quartz stones have been found in association with many Megalithic tombs, and probably had some ritual significance for Neolithic people. The white quartz façade on the Newgrange tomb is a spectacular use of quartz.

Ref: E351:13

Death and Burial Collection
National Museum of Ireland, Irish Antiquities Division Collection
Neolithic Collection
Poulnabrone Collection

Photograph appears courtesy of the National Museum of Ireland

Database of Irish Excavations Report
Megalithomania Portal Tomb
Chronological Methods 8 - Radiocarbon Dating
Newgrange Megalithic Passage Tomb
Karst of Ireland - The Burren