20:
115:), a toxic wood with multiple folkloric associations. It is carved from a complete roundwood stem. It has a carved head and neck, a long torso with no arms, breasts or navel, a well defined pubic area and a pair of slightly bent legs that end in feet. The base of the figure ends in a spike and it initially fitted into "a socket cut in a square block-shaped pedestal, about a square foot in area" which Mahr reported "is now lost".
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female or deliberately gender ambiguous. Coles has suggested that the pubic hole could have been a "hole for intercourse or giving birth", for the insertion of a separate phallus, or that the figure may have been "deliberately intended to be ambiguous, male in one context and female in another". Similarly,
126:
Mahr initially determined that the pubic hole was "obviously intended for the insertion of a male organ". The idea that the figure originally featured a separate insertable phallus made of wood or some other material has been suggested by several scholars. Others have argued that the figure might be
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The figure is covered in cracks, and has strongly incised facial features. The left eye is slightly higher than the right, with the nose off-centre and possible damage to the left of the face. The pubic area features a gouged hole (initially reported as drilled) placed within a well defined pubic
93:. Mahr reported that the figure was found face down "under 3 to 4 feet of peat" in an area of bog that had been "reclaimed since". No associated archaeological structures were reported, and Mahr reported that no other finds were retrieved from the bog.
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has argued that the figure may reflect "deliberate ambiguity and double-meaning". The figure is one of several prehistoric wooden figures with both male and female sexual characteristics or whose intended gender is unclear. These include the
19:
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The figure was found during turf cutting, by a farmer named Thomas
Halfpenny, aka Mr. Halpin, in a small peat bog close to the townland boundary between Ralaghan and Crossmakeelan, in the
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published in 1990, determined that the hole widens within the body of the figure and that it contained a small patch of white granular material, possibly quartz.
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Archaeology from the
Wetlands: Recent Perspectives : Proceedings of the 11th WARP Conference, Edinburgh 2005
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243:
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Stanley, Michael (2007). "Anthropomorphic wooden figures: recent Irish discoveries". In Barber, C. (ed.).
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An archaeology of images : iconology and cosmology in Iron Age and Roman Europe
548:"Images in opposition: polarity, ambivalence and liminality in cult representation"
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47:
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Coles, Bryony (1990). "Anthropomorphic Wooden
Figures from Britain and Ireland".
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Rynne, Etienn. "The Three Stone Heads at
Woodlands, near Raphoe, Co. Donegal".
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Anthropomorphic wooden cult figurines of
Central and Northern Europe
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Ireland's immortals : a history of the gods of Irish myth
81:, Ireland. Its discovery was announced in 1930 in the journal
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The
Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
389:. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. pp. 183–190.
89:, keeper of Irish Antiquities in the National Museum in
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The figure is 113.5 cm long and made from yew (
293:"Fermanagh Herald, Saturday, June 27, 1908, Page 7"
358:Mahr, Adolf (1930). "A wooden idol from Ireland".
171:"Kingship and Sacrifice - New Theory of Sacrifice"
318:"Anglo-Celt, Thursday, February 28, 1991, Page 4"
31:, also known as the "Ralaghan figure", is a late
268:"Donegal News, Saturday, June 27, 1908, Page 7"
38:, carved wooden figure found in a bog in the
8:
177:. National Museum of Ireland. Archived from
462:Sheela-na-gigs : unravelling an enigma
57:A sample of wood from the figure yielded a
493:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
444:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
119:triangle. An examination of the figure by
614:. Galway: Galway University Press, 1998.
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612:The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland
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201:Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
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16:Anthropomorphic carved wooden figure
508:Aldhouse-Green, Miranda J. (2004).
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514:. London: Routledge. p. 78.
244:"Mysterious Figures from the Bog"
61:date (OxA–1719) of 1096–906 cal.
105:Carved head of the wooden figure
1:
50:, Ireland. It is held by the
650:1st-millennium BC sculptures
322:archive.irishnewsarchive.com
297:archive.irishnewsarchive.com
272:archive.irishnewsarchive.com
136:, the "God Dolly", and the
666:
600:, volume 94, no. 2, 1964.
546:Green, Miranda J. (1997).
52:National Museum of Ireland
564:10.1017/S0003598X00085811
459:Freitag, Barbara (2004).
416:. Princeton, New Jersey.
372:10.1017/S0003598X00005305
213:10.1017/S0079497X0000517X
410:Williams, M. A. (2016).
341:Rynne (1972), pp. 3, 84
248:University College Cork
645:Archaeology of Ireland
129:Miranda Aldhouse-Green
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233:Waddell (1998), p.233
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324:. February 28, 1991
181:on 26 January 2016.
635:Bronze Age Ireland
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620:978-1-8698-5739-4
472:978-1-134-28248-7
423:978-0-691-15731-3
169:Kelly, Eamonn P.
138:Roos Carr figures
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79:County Cavan
75:civil parish
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48:County Cavan
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366:(16): 487.
97:Description
59:radiocarbon
629:Categories
465:. London.
328:2024-05-30
303:2024-05-30
278:2024-05-30
253:2024-05-28
156:References
87:Adolf Mahr
33:Bronze Age
640:Irish art
580:162716871
572:0003-598X
552:Antiquity
489:cite book
481:475959845
440:cite book
432:951724639
360:Antiquity
221:164050650
175:museum.ie
83:Antiquity
69:Discovery
606:25509564
530:56557821
144:See also
44:Ralaghan
40:townland
591:Sources
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91:Dublin
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616:ISBN
568:ISSN
526:OCLC
516:ISBN
495:link
477:OCLC
467:ISBN
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428:OCLC
418:ISBN
391:ISBN
27:The
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