Little Skellig, Ireland, July 6, 2020
Photo: thetimes.co.uk
While the Irish island of Little Skellig was long thought to have been inhabited by nothing but a variety of seabirds, a new archaeological discovery demonstrates that monastics once labored in asceticism on the inaccessible crag.
The archaeologist Michael Gibbons and a group of climbers recently located the remains of an early Christian church located on a narrow precipice overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, reports Afloat.
Gibbons estimates that the church dates to the late 7th-early 8th century, when there was already a functioning monastery on nearby Skellig Michael.
He described the location, 8 miles west of the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland, as the “ultimate monastic site.”
The church may have been used by one or two monks as a type of “extreme penitence,” Gibbons believes, and was supported by the main monastery on Skellig Michael, where vegetables were grown. The remains of the building discovered and the stone-paved path are similar those seen on Skellig Michael, Gibbons explained.
Most of the building has collapsed due to strong Atlantic winds.
