EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Kerry
width) appears to have originally encircled the structure and consisted of redeposited boulder
clay revetted by a stone facing set in a shallow trench. A layer of burnt material and stone
was uncovered in the building’s interior, and a small spud stone was uncovered set into the
floor on the inside of the north jamb of the doorway.
House 4 was located in the centre of the excavated area and survived relatively intact though
its southern half had been trunctuated by House 8. The house was roughly circular in shape
and measured 6.2m by 5.4m internally. The walls of House 4 were built using a variety of
methods involving conventional horizontal dry-stone masonry as well as the use of verticalset
slabs in narrow trenches which anchored cores of insulating sod, small stones and
redeposited sub-soil. A splayed door opening was located at the southeast side of the
building and was as originally defined by large upright slabs.
Various phases of activity were identified within House 4 with some pre-dating the structure.
Two parallel stone-lined drains extended from the house downslope and were dug before the
walls and door entrance was built. A partially earth-cut souterrain was dig into the hillside
and accessed from the north side of House 4. A large number of pits, postholes, slots and
lines of stakeholes were uncovered in the interior of House 4 and may have formed part of
supports for a roof, internal partitions and possible structural elements, e.g. raised bedding or
seating areas. Various occupation deposits and a secondary hearth were also excavated.
House 6 was located at the north end of the excavated area and was partly truncated by
House 7 at its southern and south-eastern sides. The house was roughly rectangular in shape
(5.2m by 5.8m internally), and its walls appear to have been a mixture of conventional
horizontally-laid dry-stone masonry and vertically-set slabs in its individual walls. Four small
un-lined drains capped with flat stone flags were uncovered in the interior and exited the
structure beneath the entrance. A series of occupation deposits and an internal hearth -
identified as a deposit of ash- were excavated. Internal features consisted of a small number
of postholes, scatters of stakeholes and two pits. A small deposit of fish bone and sea shells
(limpets and periwinkles) was found among the collapsed rubble over the building.
House 7 was located at the north end of the excavated area and partly cut House 6. Only its
western and south-western walls survived but trenches marked the line of the northern wall
and an internal north-south aligned wall were uncovered. The building measured at least
4.6m by 4.3m, and its dry-stone walls (up to 0.8m wide) consisted of large slabs set upright
at the base of the internal faces of the walls with horizontally-laid masonry completing the
upper parts of the internal face as well as its external face. One un-lined drain capped with
flat stone flags extended from the northwest corner of the building southwards for
approximately 3.6m to a pit, probably intended to act as a sump. A pit outside the southwest
corner of the building contained a fragment of a quern stone. A stone-capped drain extended
on a north-south line to the west of the building.
House 8 was located at the centre west side of the excavated area and partly overlay House
9 at its southern end. Only part of its western and southern walls survived with the western
end of the north wall evidenced by a trench cut into the hillside. The building measured 5.1m
by 4.8m internally, and its walls were 0.7-0.8m wide, built exclusively of horizontally-laid
masonry. A sump and a series of unlined drains capped partly with flagstones were
uncovered within the interior. A series of occupation deposits and internal features- pits,
stakeholes and two hearths- were also excavated within the interior. A north-south unlined
drain was also excavated immediately outside the west side of the building.
House 5 was located at the southeast side of the excavated area. It overlay drains extending
southwards from Houses 4 and 8 and was truncated by late medieval agricultural activity and
possibly House 9. Most of the masonry of its walls had collapsed though the structure was
probably rectangular in plan originally. The surviving section of the house measured 5m by
3m, and no finds or burnt material were recovered from the interior.
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