Roughan Hill

Archaeologist Carleton Jones and his team of researchers excavated a farming community on Roughan Hill during there time there from 1994-2001(Jones 2004:108). The area has an intensely utilized landscape of tombs habitation sites and well-defined field systems which cover an area of at least 28ha. (Jones 1998: 32).

<>The fields on Roughan Hill are small and irregular with no order to the system. This might be because of sub-divisions within the fields after they are planned.
It is evident that Roughan Hill was a center for funerary activity and this is reflected in the settlement of the area. It has been suggested that the tombs at Roughan Hill were placed on the periphery of a settlement of field system to mark the territory of that particular family (Jones 2004).

The wedge tombs at Roughan Hill are dated to between 2300-2000 BC. The wedge tomb is the most common megalith on the Burren and the densest population of them is on Roughan Hill. . The wedge tombs on the Burren are made with slabs of limestone and this gives the tomb a boxy shape which is not seen in wedge tombs outside of the Burren. The distribution of wedge tombs at Roughan Hill suggests that they represent small communities of just a few families each (Jones 1998: 38). The wedge tomb structure is typical of the Burren; it has a slab structure and has a western to southern orientation (Jones 1996: 100).

Increasing competitiveness is evident in the placement of the wedge tombs as well as the field system. The closeness of the wedge tombs give the impression that different families were competing for the best place to build their tombs and the unorganized fields could mean there was a scramble to get a plot of land. Given the evidence of consecutive deposits, the wedge tombs of Roughan Hill were probably used repeatedly. The wedge tomb was probably used as a ritual site for centuries after it was built. The direction the wedge tombs are facing suggests that they served as “openings into the ‘Otherworld’. The varying sizes of the wedge tombs could be because of economic divide between families or competition between individuals and families to build the largest tomb.

Settlement Plan Map (fig 34 in Jones, Carleton. 2004 The Burren and the Aran Islands: Exploring the Archaeology. Collin Press, Cork, Ireland.)	Roughan Hill Archaeologist Carleton Jones and his team of researchers excavated a farming community on Roughan Hill during there time there from 1994-2001(Jones 2004:108). The area has an intensely utilized landscape of tombs habitation sites and well-defined field systems which cover an area of at least 28ha. (Jones 1998: 32). <>The fields on Roughan Hill are small and irregular with no order to the system. This might be because of sub-divisions within the fields after they are planned. It is evident that Roughan Hill was a center for funerary activity and this is reflected in the settlement of the area. It has been suggested that the tombs at Roughan Hill were placed on the periphery of a settlement of field system to mark the territory of that particular family (Jones 2004). The wedge tombs at Roughan Hill are dated to between 2300-2000 BC. The wedge tomb is the most common megalith on the Burren and the densest population of them is on Roughan Hill. . The wedge tombs on the Burren are made with slabs of limestone and this gives the tomb a boxy shape which is not seen in wedge tombs outside of the Burren. The distribution of wedge tombs at Roughan Hill suggests that they represent small communities of just a few families each (Jones 1998: 38). The wedge tomb structure is typical of the Burren; it has a slab structure and has a western to southern orientation (Jones 1996: 100). <> Increasing competitiveness is evident in the placement of the wedge tombs as well as the field system. The closeness of the wedge tombs give the impression that different families were competing for the best place to build their tombs and the unorganized fields could mean there was a scramble to get a plot of land. Given the evidence of consecutive deposits, the wedge tombs of Roughan Hill were probably used repeatedly. The wedge tomb was probably used as a ritual site for centuries after it was built. The direction the wedge tombs are facing suggests that they served as “openings into the ‘Otherworld’. The varying sizes of the wedge tombs could be because of economic divide between families or competition between individuals and families to build the largest tomb.

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	Wedge Tomb at Roughan Hills (fig 39 in Jones, Carleton. 2004 The Burren and the Aran Islands: Exploring the Archaeology. Collin Press, Cork, Ireland.)