AR01055_EMAP_Gazetteer_of_Sites_4-2_10.pdf - The Heritage ...

Limerick
shade from light to dark-blue), and fragments of jet and stone bracelets were some other
finds recovered.
Finds from the house sites outside the cashel included two bronze rings, a bronze imitation
Roman coin, eight knives, two iron pins, four bone combs, six portions of rotary quernstones,
eleven whet-stones, five bone and stone spindle whorls, a possible stone lamp, fragments of
jet and blue glass bracelets and five glass beads.
Three complete crucibles and almost fifty fragments were found inside the cashel- several of
which had green stains, presumably from copper working (perhaps bronze-making). A
quantity of iron slag was also recovered inside one of the external rectangular structures
indicating that both iron and metalworking were most likely practiced on the site. Almost four
tons of animal bone was recovered from Carraig Aille II, of which cattle accounted for 90% of
the bulk followed by sheep, pig and to lesser extent red deer, cat, dog and other wild
animals.
It was suggested from the finds that Carraig Aille II was occupied for a relatively long period
of time between the eighth and late-tenth/eleventh centuries. The possible Viking hoard
placed into the inner face of the cashel wall has been dated to the tenth century, though
there appears to have been a reasonable interval between its deposition and the final
desertion of the site.
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