EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Limerick
Ballynagallagh, Co. Limerick
1. Unenclosed Settlement
2. Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure
Grid Ref: R644392 (16440/13920)
SMR No: N/A
Excavation Licence: 94E0101; 96E0249
Excavation Duration/year: 1994; 1996-1997
Site Director: R.M. Cleary (University College Cork)
A large oval crop-mark enclosure was partially excavated at Ballynagallagh as part of a
University College Cork research project and revealed occupational activity from the late sixth
to twelfth century A.D. The site consisted of an initial late sixth/seventh-century unenclosed
settlement of circular houses, followed slightly later by a late seventh/eighth-century fence
and track-way which preceded a late-eighth/ninth century double palisaded enclosure and
part of an eleventh-twelfth century enclosing ditch and track-way.
A relatively small area was excavated (Fig. 184) and comprised two trenches across the
western and south-western enclosing elements, and a section of the enclosure interior. The
site is situated south of Lough Gur on level space of ground on a ridge at the western edge of
a former lake, now known as the Red Bog.
The earliest feature on the site consisted of a post-built circular houses (I) with an estimated
diameter of 8m. This returned a 2Σ calibrated date of A.D. 570-674 from animal bone inside a
post-hole. The northern arc of a second post-built circular house (II) was excavated to its
west and had an estimated diameter of 4.5-5m. Its proximity to the other houses might
suggest that both are roughly contemporary.
A north-south linear trench was excavated beside the large circular house and may have
supported a light fence-like structure set in a stony bedding trench. A post-hole from House I
pre-dated the trench which returned a 2Σ calibrated date of A.D. 649-781 (highest
probability), confirming that it was slightly later than the houses. Finds from this feature
included chert, flint, a whetstone, stone axe fragment and a large quantity of animal bone
(mostly cattle) interpreted as dump material from a nearby butchery site.
A north-south stony track-way (2m wide) containing animal bone fragments, as well as chert
and flint debitage, extended across the western end of trench 3. It was subsequently covered
by another stony layer and may represent a re-metalling of the surface. The track pre-dated
the phase II enclosure and produced a 2Σ calibrated date of A.D. 661-772 which indicates
that it was roughly contemporary with the linear feature.
A number of pits (0.25m deep) containing quantities of animal bone and charcoal fragments
were recorded to the east of the linear trench and may have also been used as refuse
dumps. Two were stone-lined and may have been used initially as storage areas. Animal bone
from one pit produced a 2Σ calibrated date of A.D. 682-905, indicating that it was roughly
contemporary or slightly later than the linear trench and north-south track-way.
A large double palisaded enclosure with an extrapolated perimeter of 380m post-dated the
circular houses and north-south linear fence and track-way. The double palisade was
identified as two parallel north-south linear slot trenches (1.4m apart) with a number of large
postholes cut into their base. Both palisades appear to have been contemporary and
radiocarbon dates from the innermost places its construction between A.D. 765 and 897 (Fig.
185).
The final early medieval phase consisted of two track-ways, a shallow ditch and pits. A northsouth
shallow ditch and an adjacent eastern metalled track-way were excavated at the
southern end of the western perimeter enclosure. The ditch was U-shaped in profile and was
1.75m wide and 0.75m deep. Animal bone fragments were recovered from the lowest
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