Plan, elevation & section of Cairn G from the 1911 'excavation'.

Beads from Cairn G (not to scale).

Access is gained between the door and lintel and there is room for several people within the chamber. The floor of the chamber and recesses were covered with limestone flags; they are covered with loose cairn stones at present. The walls are composed of eight orthostats, which were split and trimmed and give a fine sense of balance and symmetry. The roof rises on two large corbels to a massive covering slab. The recesses are flanked by orthostats and there is a window-type slot over each recess. This unusual and unexplained structural feature, which is also found at Cairn K, seems to be a unique element of the Carrowkeel building style. The stone door slab still remains in place, with an unusual slit in the right hand side. To judge by the craftsmanship in this chamber, Cairn K and from the plan and elevation of Cairn F, the Carrowkeel builders were excellent stone masons. The finds in Cairn G are typical of Irish Passage Cairns: bones, lots of burnt bones, cremations, many fragments of pottery; a selection of beads and pendants, one of which is decorated with a spiral design (below, left); and five stone balls, which may have been used to represent the moon. Herity believes that some of the smaller pendants may be small models of Breton stone axes from the Carnac region (below). The pendant with the spiral helps link Carrowkeel with megalithic art, otherwise absent in the region with the exception of Heapstown and Listoghil.

A selection of pendants found in the chamber of Cairn G (not to scale).