Quote Originally Posted by funlvnman View Post
Hieroglyphics in the Burren area. The guide told us they were Viking glyphs but I think some creative tourism was going on. Beloitpiper is the resident expert on such matters. Perhaps he'll chime in with some accurate historical info!
As some of you guys know, I studied archaeology at NUI Galway. The tomb is just that -- a tomb. It is a portal tomb, due it's one large opening, or portal. Under the capstone are number, disarticulated burials. In Neolithic Ireland, families would leave the deceased outside, then bury the bones in the tomb. Later, some of the older bones would be removed to make space for newer burials. This practiced continued until the Celts arrived in the Bronze Age.

The heiroglyphs that Funlvnman photographed I have never seen before. I'm fairly certain that they're not Viking for a few reasons. 1) the Vikings only raided the east coast of Ireland, and even then only founded a few settlements including Dublin, Wexford, and Waterford. 2) the city of Galway, which would have been the Vikings main target, was founded in the 12th century, long after the Viking raids had ended. Also, the west coast of Ireland did not have any monastic sites (which Vikings were primarily attracted to) in the 9th century, the height of Viking raids in Ireland.

So I'm not sure exactly what they are. I've never seen or even heard of them before, and they don't look like anything else in the area. Perhaps Funlvnman is right, they are made just for the tourists!


Keep the pictures coming! Do you have any more from the city of Galway?