Neolithic (4000–2500 BC)

Many caves in Neolithic Ireland were used for burial, excarnation and votive deposition – often as part of multi-phase and multi-location funerary rites. In landscapes where megalithic tombs occur close to caves, it is likely that remains in the former originated from rites that took place in the latter.

Dowd, M., De Martino, M., McCarthy, M. & Ottoni, C. 2025. Earliest directly dated wildcat (Felis silvestris) from Ireland. Journal of Irish Archaeology 34, 225–234.

De Martino, M., de Cupere, B., Rovelli, V., Serventi, P., Baldoni, M., di Corcia, T., Geiger, S., Alhaique, F., Alves, P.C., Buitenhuis, H., Ceccaroni, E., Cerilli, E., de Grossi Mazzorin, J., Detry, C., Dowd, M., Fiore, I., Gourichon, L., Grau-Sologestoa, I., Küchelmann, H.C., Kunst, G.K., McCarthy, M., Miccichè, R., Minniti, C., Moreno, M., Onar, V., Oueslati, T., Parrag, M., Pino Uria, B., Romagnoli, G., Rugge, M., Salari, L., Saliari, K., Santos, A.B., Schmölcke, U., Sforzi, A., Soranna, G., Spassov, N., Tagliacozzo, A., Tinè, V., Trixl, S., Vuković, S., Wierer, U., Wilkens, B., Doherty, S., Sykes, N., Frantz, L., Mattucci, F., Caniglia, R., Larson, G.,  Peters, J., van Neer, W. and Ottoni, C. 2025. The dispersal of domestic cats from Northern Africa to Europe around 2000 years ago. Science 390, 904–916. Read here

Dowd,M., Lynch, E., Hogan, C., McCarthy,M., Tesorieri,M., Hogan^, D. and O’ConnellT. 2024. Excavations in Poll Bunker, Co. Clare: a(nother) multi-period cave site in the Burren. Journal of Irish Archaeology 33, 73–94. Read here

Cassidy, L.M., Ó Maoldúin, R., Kador, T., Lynch, A., Jones, C., Woodman, P.C., Murphy, E., Ramsey, G., Dowd, M., Noonan, A., Campbell, C., Jones, E.R., Mattiangeli, V. and Bradley, D.G. 2020. A dynastic elite in monumental Neolithic society. Nature 582, 384–388. Read here

Dowd, M., Lynch, L.G., Cassidy, L., Bonsall, J., Kahlert, T., Reimer, P., Svyatkoe, S., OCarroll, E., Reilly, E., Noonan, A. and Beglane, F. 2020. Neolithic engagements with the dead: mortuary processing on Bengorm Mountain in the Northwest of Ireland. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 39(4), 368–394. Read here

Dowd, M., Kahlert, T. and McKenzie, C. 2019. The role of caves in complex Neolithic funerary rituals on Knocknarea Mountain, Co. Sligo. The Journal of Irish Archaeology 28, 1–15. Read here

Dowd, M. 2015. The Archaeology of Caves in Ireland. Oxbow, Oxford. (Chapter 5). Download book here (free)

Dowd, M.A. 2008. The use of caves for funerary and ritual practises in Neolithic Ireland. Antiquity 82, 305–317. Read here

Dowd, M.A. 2002. Kilgreany, Co. Waterford: biography of a cave. The Journal of Irish Archaeology 11, 77–97. Read here

Dowd, M. 2012. Lithics with an identity crisis. Archaeology Ireland 26(1), 32–33. Read here

Neolithic passage tomb complexes

Dowd, M., Bonsall, J. and Hogan, C. 2021. Excavation of a Neolithic monument at the heart of the Carrowmore passage tomb complex, Co. Sligo. The Journal of Irish Archaeology 30, 1–24. See also correction to Table 1 in The Journal of Irish Archaeology 31, 134. Read here and Correct table here

Dowd, M. and Bonsall, J. 2020. The Carrowmore conundrum. Archaeology Ireland 34(1), 21–25. Read here

Hensey, R., Meehan, P., Dowd, M. and Moore, S. 2014. A century of archaeology – historical excavation and modern research at the Carrowkeel passage tombs, County Sligo. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 114C, 57–86. Read here