Carrowkeel
Carrowkeel (An Cheathramh Chaol, Narrow Quarter) 1,029 feet high, is a striking hill-top cemetery on the Bricklieve Mountains. This hill has 14 passage cairns, and a group of some 50 circular stone foundations which are remains of a pre-historic village. The peat which now cobers the site appeared after the building of the cairns. The village site is claimed to be one of the oldest sites in Northern Europe.
Excavations in 1911 were hurried, and inadequate, but Carrowkeel has givan irs name to the best known type if passage-grave pottery. Other grave-goods which accompanied the burials, of cremated remains, include long bone pins, and stone beads, pendants and stone balls. The complete absence of art is noteworthy.
The cairns are conical hillock of stone, built on a circular foundation. The stone is almost entirely native limestone. There are occasional irregular sandstone blocks scattered around in the district.The cairns are all round with an outside kerb. It is probable that the cairns had a function other than burial. The stone village houses would have taken a considerably longer time to plan and construct the layout of the Carrowkeel site indicates that the society was not restricted but outward, receptive and having an after-life concept.
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