Quarry indicated — Annagh

On the NW slope of Annagh Hill with views to the N and E, between 50-60m above sea level. Ringfort (LI006-014----) located 300m to S, second ringfort (LI006-013----) located 320m to SW. The site is depicted as a small quarry to the S of a farm lane on the 1840 ed. OSi 6-inch map with a lime kiln to the E. It is depicted on the 1897 ed. OSi 25-inch map as a ‘disused quarry’ with an exposed quarry face 120m long facing W and a lime kiln to the E. The OSi 6-inch Cassini (ed.) map illustrates the quarry as a long winding rock cut tunnel (c. L. 120m; Wth. 15m). Human remains were discovered in a cave during quarrying operations in February 1992 when a digger dislodged a large, pillar-like slab, revealing an opening 0.9m by 0.9m and exposing a cavern in which two skulls were visible. Rescue excavations were carried out in March and May of 1992 by Raghnall Ó Floinn (1992; License number 92E047). The following summary account is taken from Ó Floinn (Cahill and Sikora 2011, 17-18). The cave consisted of ‘an oval chamber, 4.5m long by 2.5m wide. The cavern had developed along a natural fault line that could be seen in the roof. The entrance (an opening in the cave roof) had been blocked by a pillar-like slab, 1.02m long by 0.38m wide by 0.22m in maximum width. The floor of the chamber sloped from E to W. The deepest part of the chamber was at its W end (H. 1m), and it was here that the principal burials occurred. During the course of the excavation it was necessary to remove part of the E end of the cavern to gain safe access to the chamber. The fill of the cave was a uniform dark brown loamy clay with stones of varying size up to 0.7m in length. ' Overall, remains of five adult males were recovered, at least two of whom had reached their sixth decade, an advanced age (Ó Donnabháin 2011). Associated with the three burials were two complete pottery vessels (a bipartite bowl and a globular bowl) and portions of two other vessels (a globular bowl and a plain shouldered vessel). Other artefacts recovered include a perforated red deer antler tine, a bone toggle, a bone point, a flint blade, a flint flake, a flint arrowhead and a flint discoidal knife. A small quantity of animal bone was also retrieved. Each of the five burials was radiocarbon dated to the Middle Neolithic, a date consistent with the pottery. A bear bone returned a Mesolithic date and likely represents residual material. The quarry and site of the excavated cave which no longer survives is visible on the OSi orthoimage taken 2005-12 and on Digital Globe orthoimages taken 2011-2013. The quarry is also visible on the most recent Google Earth Orthoimage taken 28/06/2018. All of the orthoimages record the site after the phase of quarrying in 1992 (ext. dims. 60m NE-SW; 100m NW-SE) and indicate that quarrying has ceased at the site. Compiled by: Paul Walsh Revised by: Edmond O'Donovan Date of revised upload: 6 October 2020