The Multiple-Cist Cairn at Mount Stewart, Co. Down, Northern Ireland

Abstract

The cairn at Mount Stewart has attracted wide attention as the alleged find-site of one of the very small group of Irish beakers. Since the ‘beaker’ and another bowl-shaped food-vessel from the cairn have now been rediscovered in the Belfast Municipal Museum—and the last relic of the cairn recently removed—we feel the time has come for a review of the available data.

British Decorated Axes and their Diffusion during the Earlier Part of the Bronze Age

“…Although the distribution of early metal objects in some areas overlaps with that of oeakers, there is no evidence to show that they were inseparably'connected, and in Ireland where the greatest number of early metal finds occurs there is still no trace of extensive settlement by the beaker folk. In fact the distribution of our axes as a whole in the British Isles shows a far greater similarity to that of food-vessels, but it would be a mistake to assume a fundamental connection between them until we know more about the cultures associated with food-vessels (22).…”

“…The new form (our Type III) returned to Ireland where it persisted in spite of the intrusion of the palstave. 5 This event may be compared with the introduction of the ' vase-shaped ' food-vessel to Ireland, and one may recall that the ' bowl' and ' vase ' food-vessels continued in use despite the appearance of the new cinerary urn types (22). At this stage it would be premature to suggest that the analogy is an exact parallel ; the movements of people or trade represented by both instances may well be due to similar causes, but there may be some slight chronological difference.…”

New Aspects and Problems in Irish Prehistory Presidential Address for 1937

“…He plainly favours the traditional view that the Irish food-vessel was evolved from a hypothetical neolithic bowl whilst decoration bespeaks strong megalithic influence. A different view is expressed in Evans' and Megaw's paper on the multiple-cist cairn at Mount Stewart (78,(40)(41), and should be quoted in full, inasmuch as this publication is easily the most important recent paper dealing with Irish Bronze Age pottery :…”

“…As is well known, the broad flat tumuli with many interments are numerous in western Britain, and are frequently considered as being under the intrusive influence of stimuli connected with the Late Bronze Age. But Evans and Megaw (78,40) rightly insist that ' the collective tradition was fully native in the west of the British Isles.' Mount Stewart also shows the feature of having the bulk of the graves grouped in one part of the mound, away from the centre (they are in the southern sector), and at Knockast a definite concentration near the south-eastern edge is traceable.…”