Macalistkk, &c. — Bronze-Age Cams on Carrowkeel. 325 



in plan from any of the chambeis in the other earns. It is in the foi'm of a 

 passage, 12 feet long and at the entrance 2 feet broad, but widening inwards, 

 terminating in a square recess, marked ofl' by a sill-stone, 7 inches high, 

 and having two similar recesses, with splayed sides, on either hand. 



The plan of the chamber was marl^ed all round by massive slabs of lime- 

 stone, roughly brought to a square shape, and set on edge. These slabs were 

 carefully selected, being all from one quarry-bed. Above these were laid 

 either long stones or horizontal slabs. In the upper courses large slabs only 

 were used, which gradually oversailed till they approximated close enough to 

 bear cover-slabs roofing the whole chamber. These oversailiug slabs were 

 not horizontal. Packing of small stones was inserted over each, the face of 

 the packing being flush with the edge of the slab below. This packing acted 

 as a wedge tilting the slab backwards, so that rain-water that percolated 

 between the small stones of the earn was shed off by the slabs and prevented 

 from penetrating into the chamber. See the Plan and Sections, Plate XVIII. 



The labour of erecting this chamber must have been enormous. The much 

 simpler work of excavating it and removing the broken stones that had fallen 

 into it was no light task ; the manipulation of the gigantic slabs of which 

 the building was formed could not have been carried out at all except by a 

 community much more highly organized than we might have expected to find 

 in the middle of the Bronze Age. The constructional skiU displayed is beyond 

 all praise. The use of squinch-stones (slabs running diagonally in the corners), 

 by which the length of the space to be spanned is reduced, is specially note- 

 worthy. Similar squinches occur in the roof of Brugh na Boinne, but on a 

 smaller scale. The top-stone of the chamber was a great massive slab, 9 feet 

 by 6 feet 6 inches by 1 foot thick — weighing, roughly speaking, about four 

 tons. This stone is seen in Plate XIII, fig. 1, marked by a walking-stick lying 

 upon it. The doorway of the earn is there shown in the foreground. In order 

 to get this stone out of the way, we had no alternative but to break it up. To 

 have attempted to move it woidd have been a dangerous and expensive 

 undertaking, and probably the doorway underneath would have suffered serious 

 injury. 



The architect who carried out the work of constructing this chamber had 

 made one unfortunate miscalculation. A huge slab, 9 feet 3 inches in length, 

 which he had inserted close to the inner end of the western side, had not been 

 equal to supporting the cross-strain put upon it. It had split into two, and, 

 in falling, brought down all the upper part of the roof. An avalanche of small 

 stones from the outer shell of the earn had rushed into and filled up the 

 chamber : on the top of these the cap-stone above described lay misplaced, in 

 the position in which it is shown in the photograph. This was taken after we 



