What is recorded here

Five thousand years before the rath rose, people lived on that sunny hillock in Carrowkeel. They cut cylindrical pits into the earth, stored hazelnut shells and cereal fragments, and broke a single pot into three parts. One fragment suggests they placed the broken vessel back into a pit as an offering rather than garbage. The children's burial ground and later rath stacked above that old kitchen, turning a ordinary habitation into a layered monument of memory.

Located on a low natural rise or hillock with a southerly aspect, underlying a rath (MA038-004----) and a children's burial ground (MA038-004003-). In 2002-3 an excavation (02E0598) was carried out on the northern half of the rath in advance of road construction. It revealed that prior to the construction of the rath, the hillock was the focus of prehistoric activity (Zajac 2011, 336-8). The evidence included an occupation layer, into which a number of cylindrical pits were cut. One of the pits contained pottery sherds, which yielded a radiocarbon determination of 3510-3350 cal. BC, indicating an early Neolithic date. The sherds were in a fresh condition and came from a single pot, which had been broken in antiquity, prior to deposition in the pit. Approximately a third of the pot was present in the pit. One suggested interpretation is that the pot was placed in the pit as part of a ceremonial or ritualistic offering (ibid. 338). The other pits contained occasional animal bones and small quantities of plant remains, including fragments of hazelnut shells and indeterminate cereal grain fragments. The excavation also produced evidence for an enclosure (MA038-004002-), which predated the construction of the rath. It is though likely to have enclosed the prehistoric habitation site and its pits, but a direct relationship was not established due to the confined extent of the excavation. (Zajac 2011) Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 23 July 2019

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