Irish Farmer Accidentally Makes a Bronze Age Discovery After Turning Over a Rock and Spotting a ‘Secret’ Passageway Beneath It

Nestled along the wide Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry’s rustic beauty has fascinated tourists for a long time. The area is brewing with thousands of years of rich ancient history. But even in a land so rich with archaeological heritage, no one could have predicted what one Irish farmer would find beneath a slab of stone. During routine land improvement work in 2021, the farmer stumbled upon something that left experts baffled, as per Smithsonian Magazine.

The farmer unraveled a completely hidden, ancient tomb. A large stone was removed during the excavation, and it revealed an intricate slab-lined chamber beneath. What lay inside was a time capsule—human bone fragments and a smooth oval stone—and the design of the chamber was remarkable in comparison to other burial sites in that particular region. “Given its location, orientation and the existence of the large slab your initial thought is this is a Bronze Age tomb… But the design of this particular tomb is not like any of the other Bronze Age burial sites we have here,” archaeologist Mícheál Ó Coileáin told RTÉ. Experts estimate that the tomb could date anywhere between 2000 B.C. and 500 B.C.—or maybe a little earlier than that, given its impeccable traits.

This tomb was quite different from the other tombs of Ireland. Unlike other tombs that are visible on the ground, this particular tomb was hidden underground, indicating a sacred purpose. The tomb comprises a main chamber with a smaller adjoining one and remains largely intact. “It is very well built, and a lot of effort has gone into putting the large capstone over it… It’s not a stone that was just found in the ground. It seems to have some significance,” Ó Coileáin tells the Irish Times. Due to the tomb’s vulnerable condition, the National Monuments Service (NMS) has not revealed the exact location. The team believes that it may not have just been the burial site but also holds some ritualistic significance. This particular theory was supported by its hush-hush design and the level of intricacy used during the construction.

As remarkable as this discovery is, it is not the only tomb that grabbed the public’s attention. In 2024, a second tomb, once thought to be lost to time, resurfaced near Ballyferriter. Locally known as ‘Altóir na Gréine’ (the Sun Altar), this wedge tomb was believed to have been dismantled in the mid-19th century. However, in a twisting turn, folklorist Billy Mag Fhloinn spotted a similar-looking stone during a 3D scan of the area. The scan matched a sketch from 1838 by famous English traveler Georgiana Chatterton, leading to its further confirmation as part of the long-lost tomb, as per The Guardian.

Mag Fhloinn remarked, “Most point west or south-west towards the setting sun, so they may be tied into their broader cosmological understanding of the world… It remains unclear who broke up the tomb, or why“. In the 19th century, there was quite a taboo about the destruction of these sites—it was said it would bring bad luck or disaster,” as per The Guardian. Experts believe this is not the end and there must be many more hidden tombs ready to be discovered in Ireland.