An Irish riddle wrapped in a mystery

NEAR the top of a half-submerged mountain, jutting out of the Atlantic on the south-western tip of Ireland, stands a set of monastic remains that present historians with a puzzle. They are among the most revealing and the most elusive remnants of the early Christian era.

On one hand, the beehive-shaped stone huts where monks lived, prayed and worked are more intact than at any comparable site. They provide insights into the building and engineering skills as well as the religious practices of Ireland’s Christian pioneers. On the other hand, much about the Skellig Michael site, including its age, remains enigmatic. References to it in written sources, the earliest in the late eighth century, are fleeting; only a handful of artefacts have been found.

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