Drombeg Stone Circle

A fitting picture of the Druid's Altar

We're slowly working through all of the Megalithic sites in Europe to round up all of the Prehistoric Europe that we've missed. The Drombeg Stone Circle is a megalithic structure near and dear to my heart. It's located in the Linehan homeland, in the County Cork, Ireland. Dromberg is one of the most visited megalithic sites in all of Europe.

The stone circle was originally seventeen evenly spaced stones to form a circle. Drombeg's stones are aligned to make the most westerly stone have a special place on the winter solstice. The sun sets on the solstice and the stone shines in the light. Very special. Like many of the stone circles in Europe most people think that these astronomical alignments in structures served religious purposes. But, the main center of this particular megalithic site, is the Fulacht fiadh.

For those of you that don't speak Irish, a Fulacht fiadh is a typical archeological site in Ireland (and Wales, Scotland and England). In the other places its typically referred to as a burnt mound. They were used for cooking and other things that the early Irish needed a hearth for. The fulacht fiadh is the most common archeological site in Ireland. There are about 4500 sites throughout Ireland. The fulacht fiadh at the Dromberg Stone Circle is just one of 2000 in the County Cork alone. What can I say, the good people of County Cork love to eat.

The Drombeg Stone Circle itself seems to have been used from 945 - 830 BC, which would imply it was built around that time as well. Interestingly, another name for the Drombeg Stone Circle is the Druid's Altar. You know what? It just might have been used by a Druid or two as well. I mean why not, while the stone circle seems to have only been in use for about a hundred and fifteen years or so the fulacht fiadh was in use until the 5th century AD.

Now there's a helluva lot o'stuff (see what I did there - Irish accent in print) out there about the Druids that are flat out not true. The mythology that surrounds them is overblown and a bit too cartoony. There weren't Druids hiding in every foggy night that southern Ireland produces. But, the kitchen at the Druid's Altar was open for business for some 1500 years. The shear odds of a druid passing by the Drombeg Stone Circle and thinking "why not make a bit of  snack before disappearing into the otherworld?" The unadulterated statistical odds are in favor of this scenario. There's nothing quite as tasty as Druid Mutton Stew with a side of colcannon to celebrate a foggy winter's eve.

Mount Gabriel's Copper

Mount Gabriel is one of the oldest copper mines in Europe dating back to the end of the Chalcolithic period, around 2500 BC. Most of the mining took place in what we call the Bronze Age now, but that doesn't diminish this site's Chalcolithic importance. They weren't mining for bronze, in part because bronze has to be made by mixing tin and copper at high temperatures. They were looking for copper. And before they figured out how to make the bronze they were busy making copper items, like this flat copper axehead now hosted in National Museum of Ireland. This artifact was found in the soil of a limestone quarry in the County Clare.

The Wonderful World of Megaliths

The Megalithic cultures of Europe (and elsewhere) decided that they, in their spare time would move massive rocks into a wonderful array of shapes and orders. Here is a quick overview of the various structures that these prehistoric peoples put up.

Dolmen

One of the most popular was a dolmen. A dolmen is a tomb that consists of a number of large rocks supporting a top table rock. They are found all over Europe. There are a number of great examples of Dolmens on the West Coast of Ireland, like the one pictured to the left.

Taula

A Taula is another table top structure similar to the dolmen. In fact the word Taula is table in Catalan. The Taulas are peculiar to the Talaiotic Culture that existed on the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain.

Newgrange in Ireland

Another popular megalithic structure was a passage grave. These burial chambers were often positioned so that the entrance would receive direct sunlight on important dates, like the sunrise of the winter solstice or the sunset of the equinox.

Cairn

Cairns are stacks of rocks that are found all over Europe. Sometimes they were used as decorations around other megalithic structures. Other times though they had a functional purpose as well. In England and Ireland they were strategically placed near forts to make conquering it that much more difficult. In Scandinavia they were put along the coast so that people could see them from the sea as guide posts. In Iceland, like the one pictured, they were basically prehistoric road markers.

Grand Menhir Brisé

A menhir is a single standing stone. In the Northwest of France alone there are over 1200 menhirs, with  Brittany having some of the most fascinating menhirs on earth. At the village of Locmariaquer in Brittany once stood the Grand Menhir Brisé or Great Broken Menhir. It was put up sometime around 4700 BC to decorate the Table des Marchand (Merchant's Table) passage grave. When it was erected it stood over 67 feet high and weighed over 280 tonnes. If that wasn't impressive enough, the stone was quarried and carried to the spot from a few kilometers away. Somehow though the menhir came crashing to earth around 4000 BC and broke into four pieces. Some archeologists think that it was deliberately pulled down, while others think that its tumble was caused by an earthquake.

Swedish Stone Ship

There was also the construction of a stone ship. Basically a stone ship was a group of menhirs arranged in a way that it looks like the outline of a ship. These types of structures were mainly found in Scandinavian countries, Germany and the Baltic States. The ships varied from only a few meters to massive like the Jelling Stone ship in Denmark which is over 1100 feet long. The Jelling Stone Ship is interesting because it combines a number of eras of construction. The mound and ship were originally a bronze age burial, but King Harald Bluetooth extended it and built two giant burial mounds in it for his mom and dad. The pictures of this from an ariel shot are fairly interesting and you can check them out here. Pictured to the right is a stone ship that gives a much clearer representation of what we're talking about. This stone ship is the largest in Sweden and dates to around 200 AD.

There a whole host of other megalithic structures like the tumuli or kurgans (large burial mounds), cromlechs (a burial site that looks a lot like dolmens combined with a stone circle that is Welsh in origin), stone rows (rows of single stones in straight order) and of course, the stone circle. The most famous of stone circles is Stonehenge and we'll save that for its own post.

Today in History, the death of Olaf the Black

On today, May 21, we profile Olaf the Black, or Óláfr Guðrøðarson for three reasons. First, Olaf the Black died today 775 years ago. Second, we couldn't pass up profiling someone named ... "the Black". Third, we couldn't pass up profiling someone with so many odd characters in his name, Óláfr Guðrøðarson, out of 16 "letters" in his name, five are a pain in the but to type in English. Thus, we simply had to let everyone know about old Olaf.

Olaf was King of the Island of Mann (Isle of Man today), as well as territories on the Hebrides and the island of Lewis (present day Scotland) and other areas of modern Scotland and the U.K. Olaf had ties to Icelandic sources and Norway and are chronicled in both these countries vast histories, called sagas. Basically, Olaf was a viking, who spanned both the pagan and Christianization of the Vikings. His legacy at the time was as a lord of the Kingdom of the Isles, a kingdom made up of small islands in between Ireland and the modern day United Kingdom. His historical legacy though is as the father of a number of Scottish tribes, which is likely poppycock. Just like his famous sword, the Manx Sword of State, this tie to Olaf is probably mythological rather than factual.

The sword, though claiming to have belonged to Olaf, picked up sometime on a Christian pilgrimage to Spain, is likely to have been made in the 15th century, a few hundred years after the black had gone dark (died, for our readers not familiar with our heritage). Olaf though represents much of what the late viking age was. He was a raider that terrorized people all over the Atlantic. His journey to Spain, if it happened at all was probably an event that the contemporary Spanish didn't appreciate. It was probably accompanied by copious amounts of death, rape and plunder. But, in subsequent years it was turned into a pilgrimage where he visited the miracles of St. James (Santiago in Spanish). For me the Christian whitewashing of vikings is fascinating. It represents both a modern and historical ideal, that of a Christian warrior, a pious man that could still kick some booty. In many ways these Viking missionaries probably garnered the kind of fascination that early 20th century mob bosses get today in American pop culture. We idolize them for their lifestyles while simultaneously thanking God that we didn't have to survive their exploits. But, let's face it, the only reason I'm profiling him, aside from his terror inducing name, is because his exploits are worth noting nearly 800 years into the future and thus, 800 years into safety. Had I been writing this blog 800 years ago I likely would have profiled Hrolf, the farmer that lived on one of Olaf's isles because Hrolf posed to me no danger. Since though I'm nearly 810 years younger than Olaf, I can think he's cool. Had he been my contemporary I'd like to have thought him a bully, or worse a dictator to be feared. But this is the beauty of history. We can relive terrifying events in Hollywood cinemas and enjoy the historicity and dramatic elements of the story. And since we don't actually have to face the sword that inspired the impostor that is the Sword of Manx, we can enjoy the debate of what is historical and what is dramatic. Methinks that if I had told Olaf that I doth beleiveth his sword to be of dubious origin, my head might have been wrest from me shoulders.

On this day in History, The Thomas Blood Heist

In 1671 Thomas Blood, an Irish fighter named Thomas Blood decided that it was in his best interest to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Thomas Blood was born in County Clare, towards the Southwest of Ireland in 1618. He would play a part in the English Civil War, starting as a Royalist and eventually, conveniently switching to become a supporter of the Roundheads when it looked like the Parliament would win. At some point he decided to steal the crown jewels from the Tower of London. He undertook this venture on May 9, 1671.

St. Edward's Crown was
hammered to be flat by
Blood and his men so it
could fit in somebody's
trousers on the way out
of the Tower of London.

Prior to actually attempting the theft he had befriended the guard of the Crown Jewels. He went so far as to provide the guard with a promise of marriage for the guard's daughter that would include a nice little inheritance. Having tricked the old guard (he was in his 70's at the time), he entered the Jewel House with a number of accomplices who were aided by the use of canes. These canes were not necessary for the aid of walking, rather, they contained hidden swords, shanks and single shot pistols to aid the would be robbers. Once inside they clubbed the old guard and stabbed him before gagging him. Thomas Blood and his fellow cohorts then got their hands on St. Edward's Crown, the Sovereign's Orb and the Sceptre with the Cross and mangled them so that they would fit in their clothing in a concealed way.

The heist failed spectacularly. Blood was caught before leaving the Tower of London and his capture meant certain death. But in a weird twist of fate, Blood would be pardoned. His pardoning came because of two reasons, which may may or may not be mutually exclusive. It's possible that King Charles II decided to pardon Blood because Blood had a large enough following that King Charles II didn't want the headache that would follow Blood's execution or, that Charles II was so amused by the bodacious bungled burglary that he decided to pardon Blood on account of amusement. Much to the chagrin of English lords, Blood was not only pardoned but given land in Ireland and a title. Whoever said that crime doesn't pay was either lying or completely ignorant of this massive, albeit unsuccessful heist.

The heist was doomed, but daring enough to be celebrated centuries later. There have been 3 movies made about the theft, the most recent one being made in the 1960's. Given the current market of Hollywood it wouldn't surprise me if some epically terrible movie remake of this was in the works right now. But, in addition to awful 30's, 50's, 60's and subsequent remakes to come in the future, the heist inspired an incredibly nerdy board game called Outrage! The game basically has the objective to steal the crown jewels. It's not super fun. It's pretty lame in fact, but it's got a weird cult following. The following was popular enough that somebody decided that the game should include real jewels that were supposed to resemble the real crown jewels. This more expensive set retails for nearly $15,000, making it the world's most expensive board game. But, you can find it on eBay for about $19, minus the expensive jewels.