8Hensey, Robert, Pádraig Meehan, Marion Dowd, and Sam Moore. "A Century of archaeology—historical excavation and modern research at the Carrowkeel passage tombs, County Sligo." Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature 114 (2014): 1-31.
Macalister's hasty excavations at Carrowkeel, and the ruinous state in which he left some of the cairns has engendered the lore that he used dynamite in the process. While the use of dynamite was not unheard of in some excavations of the era, there is no evidence that Macalister did so. Archaeologist Sam Moore has suggested that Macalister's reputation has suffered due to the fact that he was the least likable of the three investigators in 1911: "The [dynamite] myth may have originated from locals' dislike for him and his methods perhaps. An elderly lady told me her father had met them during the dig in 1911 and said that he liked all of them apart from Macalister." (Moore, Sam. "Carrowkeel Folklore." Message to the author. 22 Oct. 2013. E-mail.)
Macalister himself described his seeming haste and (by modern standards) destructive methods in his excavation of Cairn F: "Some very large blocks had to be removed, and it was decided to drop them into the antechamber, now thoroughly explored, as the labour of removing them entirely from the excavation would have been extremely heavy. Eventually, all the remaining material from the inner chamber was piled into the antechamber, filling it to a height of 10 feet..." (Macalister, R.A.S., E.C.R. Armstrong, and R.L.I. Praeger. "Report on the Exploration of Bronze-Age Carns on Carrowkeel Mountain, Co. Sligo." Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature 29 (1911/1912): 317-18.)
Similarly destructive excavations have serious impacted the Co. Meath passage tombs of Dowth, and at Loughcrew Cairn D.