House — Bronze Age in Loughgur

In rocky pasture under and adjacent to a low rock cliff on the W-facing slope of Knockadoon Peninsula, 176m SE and overlooking Garrett Island on Lough Gur. A Bronze Age settlement was discovered (Site G) during a campaign of archaeological excavations over 18 seasons led by Professor Seán P. Ó Ríordáin at Lough Gur (1954, 426-28). The site is located within an area of dense archaeological activity dating principally from the Neolithic and Bronze Age up to the present day around the lake (Cleary 2018). A semi-circular enclosure known as ‘Seeaghanmnatee’ (LI032-022002-) is located 55m W of Site G. Archaeological excavations by Ó Ríordáin at Site F (LI032-022004-) are located c. 50m to SW. A circular enclosure (LI032-022007-) is located on the terrace immediately above the hut site on the rock cliff that defines the E wall of the hut. Archaeological excavations by Ó Ríordáin at Site 10 (LI032-022003-) are located c. 120m to SW. Many other archaeological sites are located on the peninsula, including Circle K (LI032-022028-) located 80m to E. The archaeological site (LI032-022005- Site G) is not depicted on historic OSi maps. The walls defining the excavated structure are not visible on OSi orthoimages taken 2005-12 or on the Digital Globe orthoimages taken 2011-2013, however a field boundary that is located to the NW of the site is visible on both. Ó Ríordáin (1954, 426-28) described Site G as follows: ‘to the N of Site F, was similarly placed against an upright rock-face which formed the E wall of the structure. It was also similar to Site F in the construction of the wall, which was made by piling large and small stones together with no regularity. The wall was irregularly semi-circular in outline, the diameter (along the rock-face) being about 3.35m inside the wall, while the internal E-W measurement was about 2.44m. The enclosed space was, therefore, small and the structure was probably a hut, roughly constructed and occupied as a shelter for a brief period. The cliff which formed the E wall of the hut rose almost vertically at first to a height of 0.31m and then above a shelf to a further 1.52m. At the foot of the rock face the rock was lightly covered (D. usual depth 0.28-78m) with humus and some stone broken fragments from the rock surface or scree fallen from above. To the W, where the rock dipped, the depth of humus and stones was greater, and between it and the rock surface was a layer of clay and gravel, the upper surface of which, within the hut, had the appearance of having been trampled and evidently represented the floor of the hut during occupation. In the E portion the floor must have been the bare rock surface. The ends of the wall did not reach the rock face at either side. This may have been due to the fact that the wall-ends were not preserved because of the slip of stones on the rock surface. The entrance (Wth. 0.91m) was at the N between two large stones. The stone at the W side of the entrance had a flat base and pointed top. The base was propped on small stones to bring it level. The stone on the E side was a large block, one straight side of which lay along the line of the entrance. Of the post-holes found, five had been cut in the rock to depths (D. 0.1-0.23m). The shallowest was the rectangular one at the middle of the rock-face. Above this on the face of the rock was a rough vertical niche which may have been in part artificially cut and which would have served to hold the post here in position. A post-hole inside the wall on the W was sunk 0.15m in the clay and gravel layer and contained stone packing on its E side. The wall was between 0.31-0.61m high, the larger stones were sometimes, as in the case of the large one at the W side of the entrance, placed on or close to the hard clay and gravel layer. Elsewhere, rubble, clay and humus were built up to form the base of the wall and on this the larger stones were placed. Pockets of loose humus in the interstices of the stones of the wall may be natural accumulation, but may also be partly due to the use of turf to pack the loose stones. Bones and charcoal were found in the wall; these were obviously introduced with the building material, but there was no continuous habitation layer under the wall such as would suggest an earlier occupation of the site (as on Site F).’ The remains of a hut or roughly built shelter were uncovered at Site G. The walls could not have been continued to any great height, but, as on other sites dealt with, provided footings for the walls of a structure supported by wooden posts. The pottery sherds found at the site (Class II, flat bottomed pots) suggest a Late Bronze Age date for the structure (Cleary 2018, 187). The site of the excavation is visible on Google Earth orthoimages taken 07/05/2006; 16/03/2016 and 28/06/2018. See attached Google Earth orthoimages Compiled by: Edmond O’Donovan Date of upload: 9 November 2020