Burren Mytho-Archaeological Excursions
Where we regard history as myth and myth as history.
Let our experience create yours
A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.
— George Moore, Irish novelist and art critic
Burren Mytho-Archaeological Excursions offers conducted small group Burren guided excursions (approximately 20 persons maximum) to the visitor who wishes to interpret and discover the incredible journey in the creation of our modern nation now known as Ireland, and its culture and traditions.
Experiencing Irish mythology and archaeology with unique perspectives, through the exploration of the much lesser known megalithic and monolithic sites in the Burren, a unique glaciokarst landscape and UNESCO Global Geopark located in County Clare, forming part of the world-renowned Wild Atlantic Way.
Following in the footsteps of T.J. Westropp
Renowned 19th-century antiquarian, folklorist, archaeologist and author, regarded as the father of Burren archaeology.
Using as a fascinating guide, T.J. Westropp's book Archaeology of the Burren: Prehistoric Forts and Dolmen in North Clare, which was originally published as a series of articles in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland over a period of two decades, from 1896 to 1916.
With the progress of time, many of the sites mentioned in Westropp's book have suffered considerable erosion in the past century, making them quite unrecognisable from Westropp's day. Quoted chapters describing most of the sites visited on these excursions are read to our guests by way of a recording as we travel to each location, lending an incredible historical, alternative insight and perspective to the experience.
For the historian, the academic, or the visitor with Irish antecedents
These accompanied small group excursions are for the open-minded, critical thinking traveller to see and determine for themselves that this island, now known as Ireland, has had long and distinguished previous civilisations appearing much older than most historians and scholars would have you believe.
Much opinion has been expressed, as settled fact, about a subject of which very little is actually known: world prehistory and its relationship with Irish prehistory. These small group excursions offer the visitor an opportunity to see and explore, deciding for themselves what that connection might be and, more crucially, why.
These excursions are not about compelling guests to absorb as many dry facts and dates as possible. They are about prompting and developing each guest's own critical thinking and introspection on the subject, at their own pace.
Regardless of whether you are intrigued about the possible existence, or not, of Atlantis the lost civilisation, or of our relationship with the Phoenicians, the compelling hypothesis expressed in Ignatius Donnelly's 1882 book Atlantis the Antediluvian World, Conor MacDari's 1923 book Irish Wisdom Preserved in the Bible and the Pyramids, or the more recent writings of Graham Hancock, I believe cannot be ignored and should be reconsidered in context with our mytho-archaeological past.
The question demands re-evaluation: what role and position did Ireland have in this fascinating prehistoric world? I posit that it is absurd to assume, or even expect, that this island would somehow have remained isolated, unscathed and unaffected by the tumultuous events acknowledged as shaping and creating our now known topographical prehistorical landscape.
From earliest writings, it appears that Ireland was at the centre of civilisation before that of relatively recent Greek civilisation, as evidenced by written records such as the Linear B tablets, poetry and other formal written histories and references. Perhaps, preposterously to some, there may exist considerable basis and truth in our own mytho-archaeological prehistory.
These excursions into the Burren are intended as a pilgrimage, albeit in well-appointed cars, to introduce the intrepid, open-minded traveller to the largely forgotten and unexplored ancient prehistoric monoliths and megaliths of the Burren, and to consider for themselves what might have been.