EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Clare
Cahircalla More, Co. Clare
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure
Grid Ref: R32517553 (132511/175537)
SMR No: N/A
Excavation Licence: 04E0029
Excavation Duration/Year: January - March 2004
Site Director: K. Taylor (TVAS Ireland)
An enclosure (internal diameter of 38m by 37m) was identified at Cahircalla More during
topsoil stripping in advance of road works in 2003, and was completely excavated in the
following year. The site was located on a south-east-facing slope (33m OD), upslope from a
wide expanse of bog.
Prehistoric activity on site consisted of a single oval pit with cremated bone and several finds
in secondary contexts- worked quartz fragments, struck chert and a small amount of possibly
Late Bronze Age pottery from the plough soil as well as struck chert and a small amount of
cremated bone from the early medieval field ditches. This latter evidence suggests that at
least one prehistoric cremation burial on the site was disturbed by the subsequent early
medieval activity.
The enclosure ditch was 0.75-1.53m wide and between 0.2m and 0.8m deep; post-medieval
ploughing appears to have removed the enclosing banks (Fig. 48). Various artefacts- a piece
of the upper stone of a rotary quern, iron tool, possibly a chisel, fragments of iron slag, four
smithing hearth bottoms, animal bone and a number of cereal grains- were recovered from
the ditch fill. Radiocarbon dating of a cattle limb bone from the ditch fill suggested that it had
been in-filled during the sixth or seventh century (see below).
The remains of a small oval structure (internal dimensions of 6.3m by 4.4m) defined by three
short lengths of curvilinear gully were excavated at the southern end of the enclosure. The
gully segments were typically 0.65m wide and 0.40m deep and contained fills with large
quantities of charcoal and iron slag as well as animal bone. A radiocarbon date obtained from
a grain of cereal from the foundation slots produced a similar date to that produced for the
ditch in-fill (see below).
Two pits- 1.41m by 0.5m and 0.15m deep; and 1.19m by 0.75m and 0.3m deep- were
excavated within this building. The fills of both pits were similar to those of the gully
segments producing large quantities of iron slag and charcoal as well as burnt mammal bone
fragments and cereal grains. Another two early medieval pits were excavated within the
enclosure. The pits - 0.50m by 0.70m and 0.43m deep; and 0.23m by 0.40m and 0.20m deep
– also produced iron fragments, iron slag, burnt animal bone and cereal grains. Both pits
were irregular-shaped and were interpreted as possible stone sockets in which domestic
refuse collected. A bowl-shaped pit excavated outside the south-western side of the
enclosure appears to have been dug to contain a broken saddle quern and its fill contained a
small quantity of cereal grains.
The ditched enclosure was an integral part of a large pattern of rectangular fields defined by
five broadly linear ditches to the north and west. Trenches were excavated across the five
ditches which measured between 0.5-1.2m wide and 0.25-0.65m deep and contained
generally steep sides and slightly concave bases.
Finds from the ditch fills included a copper-alloy ring pin, whetstones, including a pinsharpening
stone, a small quantity of iron slag, animal bone fragments, a mini-anvil stone,
oyster shell, and the above mentioned prehistoric struck chert, worked quartz and cremated
human bone. Cereal grain samples from the fill of two of the ditches produced radiocarbon
dates ranging from the seventh century to the twelfth century, indicating that these ditches
may have been backfilled at different times (see below). A pit (1.20 by 0.88m and 0.65m
deep) excavated along the alignment of one of these early medieval field ditches contained a
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