Mayo -
7
Boheh
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Site/Artefact
Boheh
Type
Rock Art
Site
Number
SMR Mayo 097 00601
National Grid
Reference
097500 East
278670 North
Map (
1:50000)
Ordnance Survey Ireland,
Discovery Series 38
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Rock Art at Boheh (Photo:
Christiaan Corlett)
Rock Art at Boheh (Photo:
Ballintubber Abbey Trust)
|
Description
The carving of symbols on some exposed
rock surfaces may have been a way to impart special
significance to a particular landscape. The
distribution of rock art may or may not reflect
settlement patterns but they were not located
haphazardly (Bradley, 1995). Rock art is found in
several locations in Ireland and is thought to be
part of a wider western Atlantic style (Waddell,
1998). Dating is suggested at between 3000 and 2000
BC (Bradley, 1995). A striking feature of the Boheh
stone is that decoration is to be found on all
surfaces at different levels (van Hoek, 1993).
These mainly take the form of cup and ring motifs".
Other designs include keyhole and cross motifs
(Morahan, 2001).
The purpose of this site has stimulated lively
debate, with opinions varying from being the
signposts for early prospectors seeking to exploit
the precious minerals, like gold, to it being a
solar alignment dividing the year into three parts
for the purpose of agricultural cultivation
(Bracken, Wayman, 1992). The idea of location as
the prime catalyst for the carvings at Boheh is
examined against another theory that it is the
entire artistic composition that is important to
decipher and understand in order to gain a better
insight into the lives of the people who carved
them (van Hoek, !993). There can be no doubt that
this is landscape architecture of a high order that
links the monument and the people who carved them
to the landscape in a way that occurs almost in no
other medium (Bradley, 1995).
Excavation Details
Not Available
Access/Ownership
Via the Tóchar Phádraig
References
- Bracken,G.G.& Wayman, P.A. 1992, A
Neolithic or Bronze-age Alignment for Croagh
Patrick, Cathair Na Mart, Vol 12, Westport,
p.1-11
- Bradley, R. 1995, After MacWhite: Irish Rock
Art in its International Context, in Ireland in
the Bronze Age, Proceedings of the Dublin
Conference April 1995, (eds) Waddell, J, Shee
Twohig, E, Stationery Office, Dublin, pp 91, 95,
96
- Morahan, L. 2001 Croagh Patrick, Co. Mayo
archaeology, landscape and people, Croagh
Patrick Archaeological Committee, Mayo, pp
28-29
- Van Hoek, M. 1995, The Keyhole-Pattern in
the Prehistoric Rock Art of Ireland and Britain,
Co. Mayo, Cathair Na Mart, Vol 13, Westport,
p.15, 24
- Van Hoek, M. 1993, The Prehistoric Rock Art
of the Boheh Stone, Co. Mayo, Cathair Na Mart,
Vol 13, Westport, p.1-15
- Waddell, J. 1998, The Prehistoric
Archaeology of Ireland, Galway, pp 167-168
- RCAHMS, 1999, Kilmartin, Prehistoric &
Early Historic Monuments, An inventory of the
monuments extracted from Argyll, Vol. 6,
Scotland, p.8
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information:
Other Mayo Sites and
Artefacts
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