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Corleck Head
The Corleck Head is a 1st- or 2nd-century AD three-faced Irish stone idol discovered in Drumeague in County Cavan c. 1855. Its dating to the Iron Age is based on its iconography, which is similar to that of contemporary northern European Celtic art artefacts. Most archaeologists believe that it probably depicts a Celtic god and was intended to be placed on top of a larger shrine.
The head is carved from a single block of limestone into three simply described faces. They each have similar features, including protruding eyes, thin and narrow mouths and enigmatic expressions. The head's exact dating and cultural significance are difficult to establish. The faces may depict all-knowing, all-seeing gods representing the unity of the past, present and future. The head is assumed to have been intended for ceremonial use on the nearby Corleck Hill, a major religious centre during the late Iron Age and a site for celebration of the Lughnasadh, a pre-Christian harvest festival.
Most archaeologists assume the head was buried in the Early Middle Ages. When unearthed, the sculpture was regarded as an insignificant local curiosity and for decades was placed on a farm gatepost. Its age was realised in 1937 by the local historian Thomas J. Barron and the Austrian archaeologist Adolf Mahr, director of the National Museum of Ireland (NMI). Since Mahr's acquisition, the head has been on permanent display at the NMI.
The Corleck Head was unearthed around 1855 by the farmer James Longmore while looking for stones to build a farmhouse. Longmore found the head in the townland of Drumeague (Irish: Droim Éag, meaning 'ridge of death'), site of an ancient wedge tomb. This is near Corleck Hill, where there was a passage tomb, stone circle and earthworks. These were destroyed between 1832 and 1900 to make way for farming land.
The head was discovered near the Corraghy Heads—a stylistically very different janiform sculpture with a ram's head on one side and a human head on the other. They were probably buried around the same time, perhaps c. 900–1200 AD, to hide them from Christian iconoclasts who sought to suppress the memory of older pagan idols.
The folklorist and historian Thomas J. Barron recognised the Corleck Head's age after seeing it in 1934 while a researcher for the Irish Folklore Commission. He established that after Longmore sold the lease on the farm to Thomas Hall in 1865, Hall's son, Sam, placed the Corleck head on a gatepost. Emily Bryce, a relative of the Halls, remembered childhood visits to the farm and throwing stones at the head, having no idea of its age. Around this time Sam Hall inadvertently destroyed a large part of the Corraghy Heads while trying to separate its heads. Barron contacted the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) in 1937 after which its director Adolf Mahr arranged their loan to the museum for study. Mahr presented and described the head in a lecture to the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland that year. Study of the head and similar stone idols was to preoccupy Barron until his death in 1992.
Corleck is one of six areas in the northern province of Ulster where clusters of apparently related stone idols have been found. Other ancient objects found near Corleck include the 1st-century BC wooden Ralaghan Idol (also brought to attention by Barron), a small contemporary spherical stone head from the nearby townlands of Corravilla, and the Corraghy Heads.
The Corleck Head is formed from a round piece of local limestone carved into a three-faced tricephalic skull. It is a relatively large example of the type, being 33 cm (13 in) high and 22.5 cm (8.9 in) wide at its widest point. The head cuts off just below the chin. The faces are in low relief and could be male or female, but are similar in form and in their enigmatic expressions. Each has basic and simply described features, yet appear to convey slightly different moods. They all have a broad and flat wedge-shaped nose and a thin, narrow, slit mouth. The protruding eyes are wide yet closely set and seem to stare at the viewer; they lack beards and do not have ears. One has heavy eyebrows, and another has a small hole at the centre of its mouth, a feature of unknown significance found on several contemporary Irish stone heads and examples from England, Wales and Bohemia.
Corleck Head
The Corleck Head is a 1st- or 2nd-century AD three-faced Irish stone idol discovered in Drumeague in County Cavan c. 1855. Its dating to the Iron Age is based on its iconography, which is similar to that of contemporary northern European Celtic art artefacts. Most archaeologists believe that it probably depicts a Celtic god and was intended to be placed on top of a larger shrine.
The head is carved from a single block of limestone into three simply described faces. They each have similar features, including protruding eyes, thin and narrow mouths and enigmatic expressions. The head's exact dating and cultural significance are difficult to establish. The faces may depict all-knowing, all-seeing gods representing the unity of the past, present and future. The head is assumed to have been intended for ceremonial use on the nearby Corleck Hill, a major religious centre during the late Iron Age and a site for celebration of the Lughnasadh, a pre-Christian harvest festival.
Most archaeologists assume the head was buried in the Early Middle Ages. When unearthed, the sculpture was regarded as an insignificant local curiosity and for decades was placed on a farm gatepost. Its age was realised in 1937 by the local historian Thomas J. Barron and the Austrian archaeologist Adolf Mahr, director of the National Museum of Ireland (NMI). Since Mahr's acquisition, the head has been on permanent display at the NMI.
The Corleck Head was unearthed around 1855 by the farmer James Longmore while looking for stones to build a farmhouse. Longmore found the head in the townland of Drumeague (Irish: Droim Éag, meaning 'ridge of death'), site of an ancient wedge tomb. This is near Corleck Hill, where there was a passage tomb, stone circle and earthworks. These were destroyed between 1832 and 1900 to make way for farming land.
The head was discovered near the Corraghy Heads—a stylistically very different janiform sculpture with a ram's head on one side and a human head on the other. They were probably buried around the same time, perhaps c. 900–1200 AD, to hide them from Christian iconoclasts who sought to suppress the memory of older pagan idols.
The folklorist and historian Thomas J. Barron recognised the Corleck Head's age after seeing it in 1934 while a researcher for the Irish Folklore Commission. He established that after Longmore sold the lease on the farm to Thomas Hall in 1865, Hall's son, Sam, placed the Corleck head on a gatepost. Emily Bryce, a relative of the Halls, remembered childhood visits to the farm and throwing stones at the head, having no idea of its age. Around this time Sam Hall inadvertently destroyed a large part of the Corraghy Heads while trying to separate its heads. Barron contacted the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) in 1937 after which its director Adolf Mahr arranged their loan to the museum for study. Mahr presented and described the head in a lecture to the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland that year. Study of the head and similar stone idols was to preoccupy Barron until his death in 1992.
Corleck is one of six areas in the northern province of Ulster where clusters of apparently related stone idols have been found. Other ancient objects found near Corleck include the 1st-century BC wooden Ralaghan Idol (also brought to attention by Barron), a small contemporary spherical stone head from the nearby townlands of Corravilla, and the Corraghy Heads.
The Corleck Head is formed from a round piece of local limestone carved into a three-faced tricephalic skull. It is a relatively large example of the type, being 33 cm (13 in) high and 22.5 cm (8.9 in) wide at its widest point. The head cuts off just below the chin. The faces are in low relief and could be male or female, but are similar in form and in their enigmatic expressions. Each has basic and simply described features, yet appear to convey slightly different moods. They all have a broad and flat wedge-shaped nose and a thin, narrow, slit mouth. The protruding eyes are wide yet closely set and seem to stare at the viewer; they lack beards and do not have ears. One has heavy eyebrows, and another has a small hole at the centre of its mouth, a feature of unknown significance found on several contemporary Irish stone heads and examples from England, Wales and Bohemia.
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