What is recorded here

Six cobbled rings and a circular hut emerged from the shifting dunes east of Mountcharles in September 2010, stripped bare by cattle, creek water and coastal erosion. The cairns measure between 1.6 and 4.65 metres across, rising a metre above the sand beside scattered cockle and mussel shells. They mark a forgotten foreshore settlement where people likely gathered seaweed, watched the tide or tended fires before the dune swallowed the stones again.

This is one of six cairns (DG099-021001- to DG099-021006-), located close to a circular stone hut site (DG099-020----), which were observed near the foreshore in sand dunes to the east of Mountcharles in September 2010. The features lie on a sand spit orientated SE−NW between an estuary and Donegal Bay. The features have been exposed by the erosion of a large sand dune, exacerbated by cattle grazing as well as stream erosion from the creek of Warren Channel to the NW. They cover an area c. 20-25m². The six cairns (DG099-021001- to DG099-021006-) are located seaward, and within c. 11m of the circular hut site (DG099-020----). The cairns, which consist of roughly circular heaps of beach cobbles, range in diameter from 1.6m to 4.65m, rising up to 1m high above the sand. Cockle, mussel and razor shells are scattered around the exposed area, as well as modern debris. (Pers. comm. Edward Pollard, 5th September 2010).

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