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Corleck Head

The Corleck Head is an Irish three-faced stone idol usually dated to the 1st or 2nd century AD. Although its origin is not known for certain, its placing in the Early Iron Age is based on the iconography, which is similar to that of other northern European Celtic artefacts from that period. Archaeologists agree that it probably depicts a Celtic god and was intended to be placed on top of a larger shrine associated with a Celtic head cult. During the early Christian period, the hill became a major site for celebrating the Lughnasadh, a Gaelic pagan harvest festival that in Corleck continued into the modern period.[a]

The Corleck Head
Two of the head's three faces
MaterialLimestone
Size
  • Height: 33 cm (13 in)
  • Width (max): 22.5 cm (8.9 in)
Created1st or 2nd century AD
Discoveredc. 1855
Corleck Hill, County Cavan, Ireland
53°58′21″N 6°59′53″W / 53.9725°N 6.9981°W / 53.9725; -6.9981
Present locationNational Museum of Ireland, Dublin
IdentificationIA:1998:72[1]

Archaeologists assume that the Corleck Head was buried in the Early Middle Ages, perhaps c. 900–1200 AD, due to its obvious paganism and association with human sacrifice, traditions the medieval Christian church suppressed. It was rediscovered c. 1855 in Drumeague in County Cavan, during the excavation of a large passage grave dated to c. 2500 BC. The head was probably intended for ceremonial use at Corleck Hill, a major religious centre during the late Iron Age. As with many stone artefacts, its dating and cultural significance are difficult to establish. The three faces may depict an all-knowing, all-seeing god representing the unity of the past, present and future, or ancestral mother figures, such as Danu, symbolising strength and fertility. It was found alongside the Corraghy Heads, a two-headed sculpture with a ram's head at one side and a human head on the other. The Corleck and Corraghy idols are collectively known as the "Corleck Gods".

When rediscovered, the Corleck Head was treated as an insignificant local curiosity and for decades was placed on a farm gatepost. It only came to national attention in 1937 after its prehistoric date was realised by the historian Thomas J. Barron. It has been in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin since 1937, where it is usually on display. It is included in the 2011 Irish Times anthology A History of Ireland in 100 Objects.[3]

Dating

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Most surviving iconic—that is, representational as opposed to abstract—prehistoric Irish sculptures originate from the northern province of Ulster. The majority consist of human heads carved in the round in low relief and are mostly thought to date to from 300 BC to 100 AD.[4][5] Dating stone sculpture is difficult as techniques such as radiocarbon dating cannot be used.[6] According to the Celtic scholar Anne Ross, the Corleck Head "correspond(s) closely to Celtic anthropoid representations of the Iron Age [suggesting] a date in the late La Tène period.[7] The Corleck Head is thus placed within this period based on stylistic similarities to contemporary works whose dating has been established, mainly due to its use of the Celtic ideal of what Ross describes as "sacred triplism".[8] However, this view has been challenged by the writer John Billingsley, who points out that there was a folk art revival of stone head carvings in the early modern period.[8]

Although many of the Ulster group of heads are believed to be pre-Christian, others have since been identified as either from the Early Middle Ages or examples of 17th- or 18th-century folk art. Thus modern archaeologists date such objects based on their resemblance to other known examples in the contemporary Northern European context.[9][10] The Corleck Head's format and details were probably influenced by a wider European tradition, in particular from contemporary Romano-British (between 43 and 410 AD) and Gallo-Roman iconography.[11][12] A small number of other contemporary Irish and British anthropomorphic examples have similarly drawn faces,[13][14] including a three-faced stone bust from Woodlands, County Donegal, and two carved triple-heads from Greetland in West Yorkshire, England.[15][16] Other multi-faced idols include the Dreenan figure in Caldragh Cemetery, Boa Island, County Fermanagh,[17][18] and three-faced head found in Wiltshire, England.[19]

Discovery

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The Corleck Head was unearthed around 1855 by the local farmer James Longmore while looking for stones to build the farmhouse that became known colloquially as the "Corleck Ghost House".[20][21] While the exact find spot is unknown,[22] it was probably on Corleck Hill in the townland of Drumeague, on the site of a large c. 2500 BC passage grave that was then under excavation.[15][23] The head was uncovered alongside the Corraghy Heads—a stylistically very different janiform sculpture with a ram's head on one side and a human head on the other.[20] Archaeologists assumed the Corleck and Corraghy Heads once formed elements of a larger shrine and were buried around the same time, probably to hide them from the Christian iconoclasts who sought to suppress the memory of older pagan idols, and especially, according to the archaeologist Ann Ross, the suggestion of "surrogate sacrificial heads".[24][25] The archaeologist John Waddell believes the majority of the contemporary stone idols were destroyed and "then forgotten".[26]

The historian and folklorist Thomas J. Barron was the first to recognise the Corleck Head's age and significance after seeing it in 1934 while a researcher for the Irish Folklore Commission.[27] During his initial research, he interviewed Emily Bryce, a relative of the Halls, who remembered childhood visits to the farm and throwing stones at the head, having no idea of its age.[1] Through his interviews he found that after Longmore had sold the lease on the farm to Thomas Hall in 1865, Hall's son, Sam, placed the Corleck head on a gatepost. He also uncovered that around this time Sam Hall had inadvertently destroyed a large part of the Corraghy Idols while trying to separate its two heads.[25] Barron contacted the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) in 1937, after which its director Adolf Mahr arranged the Corleck Head's permanent loan to the museum for study.[15][28] In a lecture to The Prehistoric Society that year, Mahr described the head as "certainly the most Gaulish looking sculpture of religious character ever found in Ireland".[29] He secured funding to acquire it for the museum, while study of the head and similar stone idols preoccupied Barron until his death in 1992.[30][31]

Corleck Hill

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Corleck Hill's Irish names include Sliabh na Trí nDée (the "Hill of the Three Gods") and Sliabh na nDée Dána (the "Highland of the Three Gods of Craftsmanship"). The literary evidence indicates that Corleck Hill was a significant Druidic (the priestly caste in ancient Celtic cultures) site of worship during the Iron Age,[32][33] described as once being "the pulse of Ireland".[32][34] From the early Christian period, Corleck Hill became a major site for the Lughnasadh, an ancient harvest festival celebrating the Celtic god Lugh, a warrior king and master craftsman of the Tuatha Dé Danann—one of the foundational Irish tribes in Irish mythology.[35]

Until the 19th century, the hill held three Neolithic passage graves,[36] the largest of which was known locally as the "giant's grave". Barron's interviews with locals in the 1940s indicate that the hill had a stone circle on its peak until at least 1836.[20] The monuments were excavated during the 18th and 19th centuries to make way for farming land.[36][20] According to Barron's sources, the excavation uncovered a cruciform chamber, while the mound's stones were used to build a dwelling house nearby, known locally as the "Corleck Ghost House."[20]

Corleck is one of six areas in Ulster where clusters of seemingly related stone idols have been found.[b][37] Other ancient objects from the area around Corleck include the 1st century BC wooden Ralaghan Idol (also brought to attention by Barron),[c][36][38] a small contemporary spherical stone head from the nearby townlands of Corravilla, and the Corraghy Heads.[39][40]

Description

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Face with a small hole at the centre of its mouth.
 
Narrow face with heavy eyebrows.

The Corleck Head consists of a circular piece of local limestone[41] carved into a tricephalic skull[3] with three faces.[42] It is a relatively large example of the type, being 33 cm (13 in) high and 22.5 cm (8.9 in) at its widest point.[15] The head cuts off just below the chin, giving it the appearance of being disembodied.[43] Its faces are carved in low relief and could be male or female.[44][45] They are similar in form and their enigmatic, complex expressions. Each has basic and simply described features, yet they seem to convey slightly different moods.[11] They all have a broad and flat wedge-shaped nose and a thin, narrow, slit mouth. All of the embossed eyes are wide yet closely set, and seem to stare at the viewer, while each face is clean-shaven and lacks ears.[3][46] One has heavy eyebrows; 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.[47][48]

Archaeologists disagree on whether the Corleck Head was intended as a prominent element of a larger structure containing other stone or wooden sculptures.[43] The hole under its base indicates that it was intended to be placed on top of a pedestal, likely on a tenon (a joint connecting two pieces of material).[39] This suggests that the larger structure may have represented a phallus—a common Iron Age fertility symbol.[9][11][49]

The Corleck Head is widely considered the finest of the Celtic stone idols, largely due to its contrasting simplicity of design and complexity of expression.[11][22] In 1962 the archaeologist Thomas G. F. Paterson wrote that only the triple-head idol found in Cortynan, County Armagh, shares features drawn from such bare outlines. According to Paterson, the simplicity of the Corleck and Cortynan heads indicates a degree of sophistication of craft absent in the often "vigorous and ... barbaric style" of other contemporary Irish examples.[40] In 1972, the archaeologist Etienn Rynne described it as "unlike all others in its elegance and economy of line".[39]

 
Composite view of the three faces showing them as they would appear if the viewer walked from left to right around the head.

Function

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The Tandragee Idol,c. 1000 – c. 500 BC. St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh[38]

The head is one of the earliest known figurative stone sculptures found in Ireland, with the exception of the c. 1000 – c. 500 BC Tandragee Idol from nearby County Armagh[9] and the Ralaghan Idol, c. 1100 – c. 900 BC, found less than five miles east of Corleck Hill.[39] Archaeological evidence suggests a complex and prosperous Iron Age society in Ireland that assimilated many external cultural influences.[12] Although numerous Iron Age carved stones survive, a relatively small number are iconic and just seven examples from the British Isles have three faces.[50][51][52] Two of the examples are Irish; the other is a later and unlocalised multi-faced ivory pendant head also in the NMI.[53]

Celtic stone idols

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Main article: Celtic stone idols

The early forms of Celtic religion were introduced to Ireland around 400 BC.[24] The number three seems to have had a special significance to Roman-period Celts in the British Isles and in Gaul.[54] Three-headed figures are a common feature of Celtic art, especially of Gaulish origin, and according to Ross had a religious significance "fundamental to early Celtic thought and outlook".[52] Triple "mother goddesses" are common, as are sculptures of the hooded figures known as Genii Cuucullati.[55] From surviving artefacts, it can be assumed that both multi-headed (as with the "Dreenan" figure and the Corraghy Heads) and multi-faced idols were a common part of their iconography; they are assumed to have represented all-knowing and all-seeing gods, symbolising the unity of the past, present and future.[56] According to the archaeologist Miranda Aldhouse-Green, the Corleck Head may have been used "to gain knowledge of places or events far away in time and space".[43]

Stone idols were typically used as part of larger worship sites, and many of the surviving Irish examples were unearthed near sacred wells, rivers or trees, usually on sites later adapted by early Christians for churches and monasteries.[12][57] The hole at the Corleck Head's base indicates that it was periodically attached to a larger structure, perhaps a pillar comparable to the now-lost six ft (1.8 m) wooden structure found in the 1790s in a bog near Aghadowey, County Londonderry, which was originally capped with a figure with four heads.[d][58]

Head cult

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Tricephalic head found at Roquepertuse, a major Celtic religious centre destroyed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC.[61][62]

Many Iron Age stone carvings from Celtic regions are of human heads, sometimes with multiple faces.[63] The modern consensus, as articulated by Ross, is that the Celts venerated the head as a "symbol of divinity" and believed it to be "the seat of the soul".[64][65][66] Classical Greek and Roman sources mention that Celtic peoples practised headhunting and used the severed heads of their enemies as war trophies, and would, in the words of Ross, "tie them to the necks of their horses, bearing them home in triumph...the more severed heads a warrior possessed the greater was his reputation as a hero."[64]

There are many Insular Celtic (that is, Celts living in Great Britain and Ireland) myths in which severed but "living heads" preside over feasts and/or speak prophecies.[67] Medieval Irish legends tell of severed heads coming back to life when placed on standing stones or pillars.[68][69] This has led to speculation among archaeologists as to the existence of a Celtic head cult;[67] decapitated human skulls have been found at Iron Age sites associated with rituals and sacrifice, such as those at Loughnashade, County Armagh.[63]

Notes

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  1. ^ The Lughnasadh was one for the quarterly Gaelic calendar feast, the others being the Samhain (beginning of winter), Imbolc (spring) and Bealtaine (summer).[2]
  2. ^ The others are Cathedral Hill in Armagh town, the Newtownhamilton and Tynan areas in County Armagh, the most southern part of Lough Erne in County Fermanagh, and the Raphoe region in north-west County Donegal.[13]
  3. ^ The townland of Ralaghan is about 7 km (4.3 mi) south-east of Corleck Hill.[22] Barron recalled being approached in a bog by a man holding a large stick-like object which turned out to be the Ralaghan Idol. The man told him that he intended to throw it back into the bog and that "we're getting dozens of these carved sticks and putting them back. You see, you can't take what's been offered ... the other day one of us got a beautiful bowl, bronze or gold ... carved and decorated all over." When Barron asked him where the bowl was now, he said they had thrown it back "at once, fearing bad luck to have kept it.[36]
  4. ^ The Aghadowey pillar was carved from a tree trunk and had four heads, each with hair, that is today known only from a very simple 19th-century drawing annotated as a "Heathen image found in the bog of Ballybritoan Parish Aghadowey".[58]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b Smyth (2012), p. 24
  2. ^ Waddell (2023), p. 247
  3. ^ a b c O'Toole, Fintan. "A history of Ireland in 100 objects: Corleck Head". The Irish Times, 25 June 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2022
  4. ^ Rynne (1972), p. 79
  5. ^ Ross (1960), p. 14
  6. ^ Gleeson (2022), p. 20
  7. ^ Ross (1967), p. 124
  8. ^ a b Armit (2012), p. 37
  9. ^ a b c Waddell (1998), p. 362
  10. ^ Morahan (1987–1988), p. 149
  11. ^ a b c d Kelly (2002), p. 132
  12. ^ a b c Kelly (1984), p. 10
  13. ^ a b Rynne (1972), p. 80
  14. ^ Waddell (2023), p. 321
  15. ^ a b c d Kelly (2002), p. 142
  16. ^ Rynne (1972), plate X
  17. ^ Warner (2003), pp. 24–25
  18. ^ Warner (2003), p. 24
  19. ^ Ross (1967), pp. 53–56
  20. ^ a b c d e Waddell (2023), p. 320
  21. ^ Barron (1976), pp. 98–99
  22. ^ a b c Waddell (1998), p. 360
  23. ^ Waddell (1998), p. 371
  24. ^ a b Ó hÓgáin (2000), p. 20
  25. ^ a b Ross (2010), p. 66
  26. ^ Waddell (2023), p. 210
  27. ^ Ross (2010), pp. 65–66
  28. ^ "Thomas J. Barron. Cavan County Libraries. Retrieved 3 March 2024
  29. ^ Mahr (1937), p. 415
  30. ^ Duffy (2012), p. 153
  31. ^ Smyth (2012), p. 88
  32. ^ a b Barron (1976), p. 100
  33. ^ Ross (1998), p. 200
  34. ^ MacKillop (2004), p. 104
  35. ^ Ross (2010), p. 111
  36. ^ a b c d Ross (2010), p. 65
  37. ^ Rynne (1972), p. 78
  38. ^ a b Warner (2003), p. 27
  39. ^ a b c d Rynne (1972), p. 84
  40. ^ a b Paterson (1962), p. 82
  41. ^ Rynne (1972), pp. 79–93
  42. ^ Aldhouse-Green (2015), p. 43
  43. ^ a b c Aldhouse-Green (2015), p. 46
  44. ^ Cooney (2023), p. 349
  45. ^ Ross (1960), p. 13
  46. ^ Ross (1960), pp. 13–14, 24
  47. ^ Waddell (1998), pp. 360, 371
  48. ^ Kelly (2002), pp. 132, 142
  49. ^ Ross (1960), p. 22
  50. ^ Waddell (2023), p. 209
  51. ^ Kelly (1984), pp. 7, 9
  52. ^ a b Ross (1960), p. 15
  53. ^ Ross (1960), pp. 11, 13
  54. ^ Aldhouse-Green (2015), p. 47
  55. ^ Ross (2010), p. 66
  56. ^ Ó hÓgáin (2000), p. 23
  57. ^ Aldhouse-Green (2015), p. 48
  58. ^ a b Waddell (1998), pp. 361, 374
  59. ^ Davidson (1989), p. 138
  60. ^ "Boa Island". Tuatha, 8 June 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2024
  61. ^ Armit (2012), pp. 161, 163
  62. ^ Ross (1960), p. 24
  63. ^ a b "A Face From The Past: A possible Iron Age anthropomorphic stone carving from Trabolgan, Co. Cork". National Museum of Ireland. Retrieved 22 April 2023
  64. ^ a b Ross (1960), p. 11
  65. ^ Eogan; Herity (2013), p. 245
  66. ^ Zachrisson (2017), pp. 359–60
  67. ^ a b Koch (2006), pp. 897–898
  68. ^ Ross (1967), pp. 147, 159
  69. ^ Zachrisson (2017), p. 359

Sources

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  • Aldhouse-Green, Miranda. The Celtic Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends. London: Thames and Hudson, 2015. ISBN 978-0-5002-5209-3
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  • Duffy, Patrick. "Reviewed Work: Landholding, Society and Settlement In Ireland: a historical geographer's perspective by T. Jones Hughes". Clogher Record, vol. 21, no. 1, 2012. JSTOR 41917586
  • Eogan, George; Herity, Michael. Ireland in Prehistory. London: Routledge, 2013. ISBN 978-1-3158-8762-3
  • Gleeson, Patrick. "Reframing the first millennium AD in Ireland: archaeology, history, landscape". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 2022
  • Kelly, Eamonn. "The Iron Age". In Ó Floinn, Raghnall; Wallace, Patrick (eds). Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland: Irish Antiquities. Dublin: National Museum of Ireland, 2002. ISBN 978-0-7171-2829-7
  • Kelly, Eamonn. "The Archaeology of Ireland 3: The Pagan Celts". Ireland Today, no. 1006, 1984
  • Kelly, Eamonn. "Late Bronze Age and Iron Age Antiquities". In: Ryan, Micheal (ed). Treasures of Ireland: Irish Art 3000 BC – 1500 AD. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1983. ISBN 978-0-9017-1428-2
  • Koch, John. Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. New York: ABC-CLIO, 2006. ISBN 978-1-8510-9440-0
  • Lanigan Wood, Helen. "Dogs and Celtic Deities: Pre-Christian Stone Carvings in Armagh". Irish Arts Review Yearbook, vol. 16, 2000. JSTOR 20493105
  • Lanigan Wood, Helen. Images of Stone. Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1976.
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  • Morahan, Leo. "A Stone Head from Killeen, Belcarra, Co. Mayo". Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, vol. 41, 1987–1988. JSTOR 25535584
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  • Paterson, T.G.F. "Carved Head from Cortynan, Co. Armagh". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 92, no. 1, 1962. JSTOR 25509461
  • "Report of the Council for 1937". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Seventh Series, vol. 8, no. 1, 30 June 1938. JSTOR 25510127
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  • Ross, Anne. Druids: Preachers of Immortality. Cheltenham: The History Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-7524-1433-1
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  • Ross, Anne. "A Celtic Three-faced Head from Wiltshire". Antiquity, volume 41, number 161, 1967
  • Ross, Anne. "The Human Head in Insular Pagan Celtic Religion". Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. 91, 1960
  • Rynne, Etienn. "Celtic Stone Idols in Ireland". In: Thomas, Charles. The Iron Age in the Irish Sea province: papers given at a C.B.A. conference held at Cardiff, January 3 to 5, 1969. London: Council for British Archaeology, 1972
  • Rynne, Etienn. "The Three Stone Heads at Woodlands, near Raphoe, Co. Donegal". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 94, no. 2, 1964. JSTOR 25509564
  • Smyth, Jonathan. Gentleman and Scholar: Thomas James Barron, 1903 – 1992. Cumann Seanchais Bhreifne, 2012. ISBN 978-0-9534-9937-3
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  • Waddell, John. The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland. Galway University Press, 1998. ISBN 978-1-8698-5739-4
  • Warner, Richard. "Two pagan idols – remarkable new discoveries". Archaeology Ireland, vol. 17, no. 1, 2003
  • Zachrisson, Torun. "The Enigmatic Stone Faces: Cult Images from the Iron Age?". In Semple, Sarah; Orsini, Celia; Mui, Sian (eds). Life on the Edge: Social, Political and Religious Frontiers in Early Medieval Europe. Hanover: Hanover Museum, 2017. ISBN 978-3-9320-3077-2
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