u/Sarquin

I’ve created this map showing the location of all recorded stone circles across the whole of Ireland. The map is populated with a combination of National Monument Service data (Republic of Ireland) and Department for Communities data for Northern Ireland. I've included an image of one from Ballynoe in County Down.

These are distinct from standing stones which I've mapped separately and are categorised by the number of stones, their placename, and surrounding features.

I previously mapped a load of other ancient monument types, the latest being prehistoric mines across Ireland.

So I have created a sitemap reconstruction of the Giant's Ring Henge and the wider site in Belfast. I've used archaeological survey data to base it on and then created this using the mapping tool Inkarnate.

It's by no means 'to scale' or scientific, but I enjoy trying to visualise what the site would have possibly looked like. Would welcome feedback or suggestions, or recommendations for other sites in Ireland you'd like to see.

For those unfamiliar with the site, it's a 200m wide henge (circular embankment) with what looks like a dolmen at its centre. This was probably once a passage tomb. The neighbouring fields also have been surveyed with numerous other finds including the Ballynahatty woman. Worth checking out if you haven't heard of her!

I’ve created this map showing the location of all recorded prehistoric mines (copper, flint, and lead) and lithic assemblages (collection of flint/stone tools) across the whole of Ireland. The map is populated with a combination of National Monument Service data (Republic of Ireland) and Department for Communities data for Northern Ireland.

For me, the most obvious finding is the clear concentration of copper mines in the south west. Given copper was essential in the production of bronze, I suspect this would also be a good reason why we find so many megalithic sites in that region too. There are also a series of lithic finds up in the north east, particularly around Strangford in County Down.

I previously mapped a load of other monument types, the latest being round tower locations in Ireland.

I’ve created this map showing the location of all recorded medieval fortifications across the whole of Ireland. The map is populated with a combination of National Monument Service data (Republic of Ireland) and Department for Communities data for Northern Ireland.

The data for this was pretty poor, so apologies if I’ve missed any key sites. I’ve tried to apply quite broad filters to pull in fortifications too, so ‘castles’ is not technically an accurate title. For instance, Tower Houses are not strictly castles, but I wasn’t sure of a better way to label the map – so very open to suggestions. Also the data didn't align neatly between the two Governments, hence why you'll see a lot of unclassified ones.

On the data, I find it interesting how you can see the concentration in the east versus west for Norman fortifications. This won’t be surprising to those who know their history of the Norman conquest. Beyond this, I’m not a specialist in Medieval Ireland so will have to defer to others to explain these distributions.

I previously mapped a load of other ancient monument types, the latest being barrows in Ireland.