The great stones
Thousands of years old.
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A massive Neolithic stone tomb in the Burren, County Clare, made of three standing stones holding up a heavy horizontal capstone and dating to between 3800 and 3200 BC, the best known of the roughly 172 tombs of its kind in Ireland. It was built by Neolithic farmers on one of the highest and loneliest spots in the Burren, perhaps for ritual or as a marker of their territory, and today it stands alone in a striking rocky landscape. The Burren itself is a unique region of bare, fissured limestone formed about 350 million years ago, where rare flowers bloom in the cracks in spring, bringing together Arctic, Alpine and Mediterranean plants. It's free to visit; the tomb is seen from a short path that starts at a small roadside car park, about an hour from Galway, and it combines easily with the Cliffs of Moher in one trip.
Thousands of years old.
Bare and fissured.
In the cracks.
The Burren, County Clare
It dates to the Neolithic, roughly 3800 to 3200 BC, and it's free to visit.