Midden in An Baile Uachtarach Theas

A number of shell middens are exposed in section at the cliff-face along 100m of shoreline at Ferriter's Cove. They rest on a wave-cut platform beneath a series of sand-dunes which are several metres deep in places. A flint plano-convex knife was discovered at the site about 10 years ago (Vernon 1976, 118-9), and excavations here in 1983, 1984, and 1985 revealed a series of settlement sites with pits, hearths and large quantities of occupation debris. Besides abundant shells, predominantly of whelk, limpet and periwinkle, fish bones and even fish scales have been recovered, and bones of wild pig and red deer. The sites have produced evidence of stone-tool manufacture for which the main raw materials were a series of greenish-blue rhyolites and volcanic ashes which outcrop several kilometres S of Ferriter's Cove, near Dunquin. A small quantity of flint was also used, and artefacts of slate, shale and sandstone have been recovered. Amongst the artefacts recovered to date are Bann flakes, points, chopper tools, blades, picks, and stone axes. Charcoal samples from the sites have produced several dates ranging from 3670 ± 80 b.c. to 3240 ± 110 b.c.. The settlements, therefore, seem to straddle the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition, though the archaeological evidence suggests that they were essentially Mesolithic in character. (Woodman, Duggan and McCarthy 1984, 5-9; Woodman 1985, 16-9) The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 5. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 3 August 2013