Midden in Agharrow

Exposed in section in the low, eroding cliff face (H c. 2m), bordering the shoreline, c. 10m N of Staad Abbey church (SL005-022001-). The midden is visible in the cliff face as a shell-rich layer (H 0.5-0.6m), extending for a length of 40-50m from a point c. 10m E of the church to a point c. 20m W of the church. It appears as a dense concentration of limpet shells, and periwinkles shells, with lesser quantities of cockle, mussel and crab shells, as well as animal, bird and fish bones. This food waste debris is enveloped in a matrix of dark-grey, sandy soil, flecked in parts with charcoal, and mixed with small and medium-sized stones, both rounded and angular in form, and including stones with a heat-shattered appearance. Although recorded here as a single monument, archaeological recording and sampling of the midden in 1993 and 2000 has shown that the midden is, in fact, a complex series of successive layers, incorporating a suite of features such as pits, possible hearths, walls, a Man-made underground passage (SL005-022002-) and a lime kiln (SL005-022008-) (McCormick and Bently 1994; McCormick et al. 2000). Analysis of samples taken from the midden has confirmed that the most common shell fish exploited were limpets and periwinkles, that the animal bones included cattle, sheep/goat, pig, horse and seal, and the fish bones included ballan wrasse, herring, hake and salmon and scad. Barley, oat, wheat and flax seeds, as well as hazel nut shells, were also recovered. (McCormick and Bently 1994, 2-7; McCormick and O’Sullivan et al. 2000, 10-15). The lower levels in the midden appear to be early medieval in date, and contemporary with a Man-made underground passage (SL005-022002-), the lowest fill of which produced a radiocarbon date of 11th-12th century AD (McCormick and O'Sullivan et al. 2000, 20). A horse bone, retrieved from an upper layer in the midden, produced a radiocarbon date of AD 1447-1632 (UB-3771) (McCormick and Bently 1994, 2). The midden points to a long period of settlement at Staad, which, according to tradition, was used by pilgrims and other travellers as a staging point en route to the monastic settlement (SL001-001001-) on Inishmurray Island, located c. 6km offshore.