EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Galway
Loughbown (2), Co. Galway
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure.
Grid Ref: M81732872 (181730/228729)
SMR No: GA087-177
Excavation Licence: A024/E2054
Excavation Duration/Year: 2005.
Site Director: N. Bower (Eachtra)
The site consists of a banked-and-ditched enclosure (37m by 48m) placed on the brow of a
small hill (Fig. 144). Excavation of the site was required to facilitate road building. Prior to the
main excavation a test excavation had taken place in 2004, and a geo-physical survey of the
interior had indicated a number of anomalies.
Excavation of the enclosure bank revealed postholes along the inner and outer faces of the
bank, and these were interpreted as evidence for wooden shoring on both faces. Radiocarbon
dates from this construction phase suggest that material from an earlier Iron Age site may
have been re-worked into the early medieval bank (see below). This wooden facing may have
been complimented by a facing of small limestone stones on the interior face of the bank. A
metalled entrance-way was revealed, associated with two large postholes for the gate.
Around 60% of the site interior was composed of exposed bedrock, thus there were few
structural remains. An area of activity was however identified in the northwest of the interior,
consisting of a slot trench, ten postholes (in an irregular pattern), and three pits. An early
medieval radiocarbon date was returned from associated charcoal (see below).
Few finds were recovered from this site, leading the excavator to suggest it may have been
used as a cattle corral. These consisted of an incomplete shale/lignite bracelet; a quernstone;
an iron knife-blade; and a flint flake and hammer stone.
Fig. 144: Plan of excavation at Loughbawn (2), Co. Galway, showing relevant features (after
Bower 2009, 30).
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