EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Clare
The Harvard excavators identified that the distribution of the stratified finds inside the inner
enclosure revealed a number of patterns. The northeast quadrant produced the largest
collection of finds, and was identified as the main occupation area. The northwest quadrant
was second in importance, yielding vast quantities animal bone, lignite rings, bronze studs,
bone pins, tools, weapons and miscellaneous household objects. The southwest quadrant
was identified as the kitchen and servants quarters since it produced very few finds except
for three types of artefacts; querns, bone points and stone axes; and the southeast quadrant
of the enclosure was the poorest area, only yielding worked fragments of bone and antler as
well as possible evidence for ironworking in one of the hearths.
A vast quantity of animal bone (4183 kg) was recovered inside the inner enclosure of the
fort. Cattle were clearly an integral part of the economy at Cahercommaun with their bones
accounting for 97% of the total. Sheep and goat accounted for 1%, pig at slightly less than
1% with the bones of horses and Red Deer making up the bulk of the remainder. Cereal
processing also appears to have been practiced and was evident in the form of a large
collection of saddle and rotary quern stones, bill hooks and iron shears. From the excavated
stratigraphical evidence, it was suggested that both quern types ‘existed side by side,
possibly for different kinds of milling’.
A modest quantity of iron slag was also recovered scattered throughout the fort, mostly in
un-stratified contexts though small cakes were identified in layers of ashes inside one of the
souterrains and in a number of hearths inside the inner circular stone enclosure. Evidence for
textile production can also be posited due to the relatively large collection of spindle whorls
recovered. No pottery was identified though wooden vessels were at least present on the site
as attested by the recovery of iron bucket-handles and two iron clamps of wooden bucket
hoops like those recovered on Ballinderry Crannog, No. 1.
Chief amongst the large collection of iron, antler, bone and stone tools included a significant
quantity of knives, iron axes, hooks, bill hooks, awls, shears, bone points, spears, needles,
bone, antler and stone spindle whorls, hammer-stones, whetstones as well as three polished
stone axes indicative of prehistoric activity. Personal ornamented objects included a
decorated silver brooch, a fragment of a small bronze penannular brooch with zoomorphic
terminals, various bronze, iron and bone ringed and un-ringed pins, glass, amber, shale,
lignite, bone and antler beads, glass bracelets, lignite rings and bone combs. Other important
miscellaneous items recovered included an iron bell, iron barrel padlock, door-hinge, iron
bucket-handle, belt-buckles and a single edged iron sword.
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