Throughout human history, caves have been places of shelter, ritual, burial and fear. Around the world, they have acted as time capsules, preserving ancient art and sacred spaces, but what do we know of the past use of Irish caves? Join us in the Underland for a discussion on Cave Archaeology with Dr. Marion Dowd.

This episode of Amplify Archaeology Podcast features a fascinating discussion with Dr. Marion Dowd. Marion is a Lecturer in Prehistoric Archaeology at IT Sligo, and Ireland’s foremost expert on cave archaeology. The dark depths of caves have loomed large in the human psyche since we evolved as a species. They have been places of shelter, inspiration, ritual and repository. They are places that unnerve us, and places that inspire us. In Europe, from at least the Upper Palaeolithic Period onwards, people ventured to the deepest and darkest parts of caves, far beyond the light of the entrance, as a place of ritual and ceremony. That’s where, in the likes of Lascaux, they created the incredible art, that utilises the contours and features of the cave to make the depictions of animals seem to come alive in the firelight.

Caves evoke our imaginations. Some of our earliest stories, like the Epic of Gilgamesh from around 1800 BC, tells the story of the hero who escaped the underworld. They feature strongly in Greek, Roman, Finnish, Inuit, Aztec and Hindu mythology. They also feature as a lair of wild beasts, or bandits like in the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Archaeology also shows that caves have a very practical aspect, they offer shelter and a constant temperature, making them ideal for storage.

In this episode of the Amplify Archaeology Podcast, Marion tells us about the practice and practicalities of cave archaeology, and how caves have been used for different purposes through time in Ireland. From ongoing tradition in the Mesolithic, places of excarnation in the Neolithic, ritual in the Bronze Age and mass burial by the Vikings, by venturing into the dark depths of caves we can shine a light on Ireland’s past.

Cave Archaeology – Key Discussion Points

• What is cave archaeology, and how is it different to the regular sort of surface archaeology? – 1 min
• Folklore and the physical & sensory experience in caves – 5 min 05 secs
• What inspired Marion to get into the archaeology of caves? – 7 min 55 secs 
• What is the background to the archaeology of Ireland’s caves, what was the origin of the first investigations? – 9 min 44 secs
• Are new archaeological discoveries regularly being made in Irish caves? – 12 min 51 secs
• The changing use of caves, beginning with Killuragh Cave (Mesolithic) – 15 min
• Knocknarea Cave (Neolithic excarnation) – 19 min 30 secs
• Glencurran Cave (Bronze Age) – 24 min 33 secs
• Caves as places for inspiration or contemplation – 33 min
• Dunmore Cave (Vikings) – 39 mins 30 secs
• Moneen Cave (16/17th century) – 46 min
• The multiperiod nature of cave archaeology – 50 min 50 secs
• Caves in the Irish War of Independence – 52 min 34 secs
• Caves and Placenames – 55 mins 20 secs
• What caves can people experience and visit today? – 56 min 19 secs
• Caves as ‘Time Capsules’ – 57 min 40 secs

Show notes and links to further information

• PDFs of all of Marion’s groundbreaking publications and papers can be found here.
• If you wish to purchase a copy of the award-winning Archaeology of Caves in Ireland you can find a copy at O’Mahonys, or if you’re in the UK the publisher is Oxbow Books.
• I also highly recommend the Archaeology of Darkness edited by Marion with Dr. Robert Hensey who has appeared in previous episodes of Amplify Archaeology on Carrowkeel, and Newgrange. You can find it here.
• Marion did a great talk on the Archaeology of Sligo’s Caves for The Sligo Community Archaeology Project. You can see the video here.
• And here’s another really interesting presentation on Bronze Age cave use in the Burren for Burrenbeo, you can see the video here.
• There’s a great virtual tour of the incredible Lascaux Caves here.
• Dunmore Cave is a great place to visit with a fascinating story. It’s located near Castlecomer in County Kilkenny. You find information here.
• Back in January 2020 I was delighted to be a guest on Fin Dwyer’s fantastic Irish History Podcast where we visited Dunmore to talk about its story.
• There are other great show caves to visit, like Aillwee in the Burren, Mitchelstown Caves not far from us in County Tipperary, the Marble March Caves in Fermanagh, Crag Cave in Kerry, and the beautiful Caves of Keash outside Sligo.
• Another superb book on humanities experience with caves is Underland by Robert MacFarlane. It pulls the ‘deep time’ nature of caves into focus.
• As I mentioned at the end of the episode, we are very nearly ready with the new service from Abarta Heritage. Do sign up to our mailing list (at the bottom of this page) to make sure you’re one of the first to see it. If you sign up you won’t get spammed at all I promise, we’ll just send info on great places to visit, news, new audioguides and insights along with special offers and a lot more too. So please do sign up for free below!