Glossary D-K

Daghda: The father-god of magic and fertility and chief of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Dolmen: It is an old word given for some megalithic tombs, normally referring to a megalith with three or more upright stones capped with another. Also called a cromlach.

Draw-bar socket: This is a hole to hold a wooden bar inside a door or window shutter used to secure a closed position. It could slide back and forth into the socket to close the door or window.

Drumlins: These are rounded hills that normally occur together to form what is sometimes called 'a basket of eggs' landscape because of their shapes from the air. Lakes often occur in between the hills. Drumlins were caused by glacial deposits during the Ice Age.

Early Iron Age: This is the beginning of the Iron Age period and dates from around 600 BC to the time of the birth of Christ. There is a distinct change in weaponry and art styles, along with the arrival of the first iron objects.

Erratics: These are large stones and boulders that have been moved from another location by the action of glaciers during the Ice Age.

Façade stones: One of a number of upright stones or orthostats, which line the front of a megalithic monument.

Flint: This is a crystalline form of quartz that occurs in chalk rocks. When struck and worked it made shape tools of various types - knives, scrapers, javelin heads, arrowheads etc. It tends to be better quality than chert, which is a similar type of stone.

Fomorians: In Celtic mythology the Fomorians were a race of demonic giants lead by Balor of the Evil Eye and were the first inhabitants of Ireland. They were defeated by the Tuatha Dé Danann at the mythical Battle of Moytura, near Lough Arrow in Sligo.

Gable: The end wall of a building, the top of which conforms to the shape of the building's roof.

Gallery: This is a long, rectangular or sub rectangular or wedge shaped compartment in which burials were deposited. Galleries may be divided up into a number of chambers by jambs or sillstones.

Gallowglass: A name given to medieval mercenary soldiers, many of whom were Scottish.

Garderobe: This is the name given to a medieval latrine or toilet which exits through a shaft in the wall, usually into a pit, drain or fosse.

Gothic: A Western European building style between the 12th and 16th century typified by pointed arches and detailed design.· Gneiss A type of hard rock composed of bands pressed together. It is a type of metamorphic rock created from extreme pressures and heat.
Gun loops: A narrow vertical slit of various forms in a wall or angle of two walls allowing the firing of guns.

Imbolc: The ancient pre-Christian festival marking the beginning of Spring on February first, which was Christianized into St Brigid's Day.
Iron Age (c.600BC to c.450AD) represents a period of social changes following the arrival of ironworking and the occurrence of particular artistic styles around 600BC but these only become widespread by c.300BC. The curvilinear art form called La Tene dates to around 300 BC and an example of this art can be found at Cloverhill. Certain Neolithic megaliths appear to have been re-used as Iron Age burial sites, as at Carrowmore no 27. It was believed that the 'Celts' - tribes of iron-using North European warrior aristocrats - invaded Ireland and brought iron metalworking technology and other innovations with them. However, it is now believed that no substantial folk movement or so-called 'Celtic' invasion occurred in Ireland, although it is possible that small numbers did come. However, it is more likely that through trade and interaction between the growing warrior elites along the western Atlantic fringe new ideas, new technologies, and even languages, were gradually introduced throughout the 1st millennium BC. There is very scant archaeological evidence in Ireland from this period regarding the day to day life of these iron using people and few definitive Irish Iron Age sites have been excavated.

Jambs: In megalithic constructions this term is used to describe the large upright stones which, like the sides of a door-way, form the entrance to, or divide galleries into chambers. Between jambs there is often a low sillstone.

Karst: A limestone landscape of fissures, caves and swallow holes, where the rock has been extensively dissolved by rainwater.

Kerb / Kerbstones: A continuous line of stones or slabs which surround the base of a cairn. A kerb may also be composed of drystone walling or a combination of the two.