Dolmens or portal tombs?

[nwhyte]

We had a nice excursion yesterday to Slieve Gullion, the mountain in South Armagh, including the Ballyward Dolmen on its western flank:

Comments

[sashajwolf]

The surviving earth- or stone-covered dolmens are generally cited as evidence that the bare ones were originally also covered, but I do see your point that perhaps some were and others were not. For instance, I don't think anyone believes Stonehenge to have been covered at any point - because its size makes that implausible - yet there are surviving stone circles on a smaller scale that do form part of the outer wall of covered passage-tombs, with trilithons similar to those at Stonehenge forming the doorways.

[shereenb]

I think some of them were covered with mounds of stones and/or earth. The amount of large bone remains excavated at some dolmens would surely have been carted off by animals if they were just left under the open dolmen. I do wonder how much the amateur antiquarians changed sites with their excavations and reconstructions.

Also, what lizwithhat says.

[del_c]

The recent discovery of megaliths under Durrington Walls suggests a third possibility: that no dolmen was originally covered with earth, but some (and only some) subsequently were, decades or centuries after their original construction.