Poulnabrone dolmen

Poulnabrone dolmen is a portal tomb located in Co. Clare. It is one of the most famous dolmens in Ireland.  The large capstone rises up from the limestone bedrock of the Burren, supported by two portal stones that are 1.8 meters high.  The people that were buried in Poulnabrone dolmen were Neolithic farmers.  The radiocarbon dates from the bones produced an age of 3800 to 3200 B.C.  The name Poulnabrone literally means ‘The hole of the sorrows’.  Excavations done in 1986 and 1988 by Ann Lynch produced many interesting finds, in addition to replacing two of the broken orthistat stones.  This assures that Poulnabrone will remain a dominant part of the Irish landscape for many years to come.