EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Sligo
Period III, a large mound of stones 11.5m in length, was placed on the sands and was
retained by a wooden revetment. Peat, logs and stone heaped against and around the sides
of this mound which was in turn retained by a timber revetment, increasing the size of the
crannog to 28.5m by 21m. A layer of brushwood, gritty yellow sand, flagstones and timber
were laid over this at about the same time. The crannog was retained by a vertical pile
palisade, probably built in two phases, partly enclosing the site on north and northeast sides
(facing the shoreline). Raftery did not recognise any house posts, but a probable oval or
circular house was probably represented by a large centrally placed hearth in use over an
extended period with a layer of brushwood and peat that may have served as a house floor.
The house floor was initially of peat sods, strewn with rushes, and as the sods settled into the
stone core below the floor, it was levelled with sand. A hearth was laid down, initially being a
simple unprotected hearth. The house had a floor of clay and subsequently of stone.
Finds from the Period III occupation included various stone objects, including two polished
stone axes, hammerstones, flint flakes and scrapers, numerous whetstones or hones, spindle
whorls, a stone disc, stone beads and bracelets (presumably of lignite) and four rotary
querns. There was also a bronze pennanular brooch, a bronze ringed-pin, a bronze pin, a
bronze strip, rings, bracelets and an armlet. There was an iron spearhead, a shield-boss, iron
ferrules, a tanged iron knife. There were iron pans (4), nails and straps, staple and rods.
Other iron objects included an iron ring-brooch, a bill-hook, a socketed iron object and an
iron barrel padlock fragment. There were numerous objects of bone, including bone pins
(both plain and perforated), bone combs, bone beads, bone spindle whorls, antler handles.
There were wooden staves, bases, barrel hoops, dishes or platters and handles, as well as
leather shoes. There was also evidence for metalworking in the form of clay crucibles. Glass
objects included a glass bracelet, a glass ribbed bead, a fragment of a Merovingian glass
vessel, greenish-yellow in colour, an amber bead, a lignite object. A thin layer of sand may
have indicated lake flooding and temporary abandonment of the crannog, which itself had
slumped to the south (although a layer of sand may also have been laid across the site to
‘clean’ it).
The Period IV occupation began with the levelling of the crannog surface by placing grassy
turfs and stones over the Period III remains, which had sloped or tilted to the south. These
turfs were obviously taken from the foreshore meadows, with grass, plants, rushes, roots and
stones mixed in with them. This new body of material was held in position by a stout
revetment of horizontal logs, held in position by two rows of squared oak posts running along
the eastern side of the crannog. The solid revetment was not used on the western side, here
only oaken piles were driven into the marls. It is interesting to note again that the strongest
defences faced towards the land, thus presenting an impressive palisade towards the
shoreline.
The initial phase of occupation (IVa) in Period IV was an oval crannog, 25m by 15m. It
survived mostly as foundation material, but the Period III hearth continued in use with layer
after layer of clay and ash being laid down. There was no protection for the hearth, but some
postholes may represent a house. In the latter phase (IVb) of the Period IV occupation, there
was a definite house structure. This was a large round house (10.5m in diameter, of carefully
sharpened stout oak posts spaced at intervals of 0.20-0.35m). The house walls were probably
of wattle. There was a central hearth and spread of ash and the house had a possible
entrance facing to the east, looking out at the water. The surviving posts formed the
southern wall of the house, but they were cut off at the level where the Period IV ceased and
the Period V began. The house may have been demolished on the north side, where no posts
remained.
In the final phase of the Period IV occupation (i.e. IVb), it was necessary to extend or
strengthen the crannog, so sand, stones, vegetation and other materials were piled against
the oak revetment and piles on the southwest side of the crannog. The soils were of a sooty,
black texture and the Period IVb phase was sterile of artefacts. Finds from the Period IVa
occupation included stone hammerstones, whetstones, flint scrapers, flakes, spindle whorls,
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