Stone Circles

On top of a plateau of exposed limestone pavement, at the lower N end of Doonaveeragh ridge. Rising abruptly from the S end of the plateau is the upper tier of the dissected ridge on top of which is a possible passage tomb (SL040-099----) and a cairn (SL040-100----). The sides of the ridge are formed of limestone cliffs and steep scree-covered slopes. To W, a gorge separates Doonaveeragh and the higher ridge of Carrowkeel. A dense concentration of roughly circular stone-walled huts (diam. 7-15m) cover the full E-W width of the ridge. Clusters of conjoined huts intermix with huts more loosely linked by short stretches of walling or by intervening walled courtyards. In many cases the enclosing walls (Wth 1.2-1.5m) consist of an inner and outer face of slabs or boulders with a rubble core. In some instances construction appears to involve the quarrying of karst to create the interior while leaving some bedrock in situ to define the perimeter. Internal partitions and entrances flanked by large jamb slabs also occur. Herity (1974, 157-8) suggested that this complex may have been a 'passage grave township' and notes that since many of the huts are covered with blanket bog a date of before 1000BC would be probable for the complex. About 24 huts are indicated on the 1914 OS 6-inch map while Macalister, Armstrong and Praeger (1912, 331-2) recorded 47. An aerial photograph (CUCAP, AJO 35) taken in 1964 shows c. 80 huts. In the summer of 2003 a survey and trial excavations were carried out by Stefan Bergh, Department of Archaeology, NUI Galway, and some 152 huts were identified; a preliminary examination of the finds, which includes a plano convex flint knife, concave scrapers of chert, chert debris, pottery and bones, has led the excavator to suggest a Neolithic date for the complex (The Sligo Champion, 16-7-2003). A similar complex of huts (SL032-013004-) has been identified on Knocknashee c. 22km to NW (Norman and St Joseph 1969, 24-5).