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

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Mayo<br />

Letterkeen, Co. Mayo<br />

Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure.<br />

Grid Ref: F98140759 (098145/307594)<br />

SMR No: MA046-004007<br />

Excavation Licence: N/A<br />

Excavation Duration/Year: 1950?<br />

Site Director: S.P. Ó Ríordáin (University College, Cork).<br />

<strong>The</strong> site is an enclosure with an internal diameter <strong>of</strong> 26m surrounded by a bank-and-ditch,<br />

with a low external bank beyond the ditch (possibly a bivallate or a counterscarp enclosure)<br />

(Fig. 236). <strong>The</strong> maximum ditch width was 4m and the maximum bank height was 4.5m. In<br />

1935 two Bronze Age ‘food vessels’ were found on site, which resulted in a number <strong>of</strong> pits<br />

being dug in the interior in search <strong>of</strong> ‘treasure’. <strong>The</strong> largest hole in the interior, however,<br />

resulted from the removal <strong>of</strong> the souterrain from site, presumably in the nineteenth or<br />

twentieth century.<br />

Excavation revealed that the inner face <strong>of</strong> the inner bank was supported by a stone<br />

revetment, and that, on either side <strong>of</strong> the entrance, a similar stone structure formed the core<br />

<strong>of</strong> the bank (Fig. 237). <strong>The</strong> low outer bank appears to have included a palisade trench on the<br />

outer lip <strong>of</strong> the ditch. <strong>The</strong> fence associated with this trench appears not only to have<br />

surrounded the site, but also to have framed both sides <strong>of</strong> the entrance causeway over the<br />

ditch and to have ended at the gated entrance into the interior <strong>of</strong> the enclosure. A series <strong>of</strong><br />

gate-posts were identified during excavation, suggesting that the gate must have been<br />

replaced on a number <strong>of</strong> occasions. <strong>The</strong> interconnection between entranceway, ditch,<br />

causeway, and palisade trench suggests that they were all contemporary. <strong>The</strong> souterrain was<br />

probably a later addition to the site since it was built into part <strong>of</strong> the inner bank. Postholes in<br />

the floor <strong>of</strong> the souterrain and grooves in the walls indicate that structural timbers were<br />

employed to support the ro<strong>of</strong>, which may also have been <strong>of</strong> timber.<br />

A timber-posted roundhouse (5.2m in diameter) was located in the interior, which appears to<br />

have been linked to the souterrain by a stone pavement. An area <strong>of</strong> intensive burning just<br />

beyond the western wall <strong>of</strong> this structure appears to have been associated with a trenched<br />

feature which was tentatively identified as a kiln. Another setting <strong>of</strong> stones was identified as a<br />

second structure (<strong>of</strong> indeterminate shape). <strong>The</strong> associated material – fragments <strong>of</strong> crucibles<br />

and heavily burnt or glazed clays – as well as the intensive burning, suggests that this may<br />

have been a workshop.<br />

A bronze pin was found on site associated with the early medieval enclosure; as were three<br />

glass beads (two blue; one white); a fragment <strong>of</strong> a blue-glass bracelet; eight fragments <strong>of</strong> jet<br />

bracelets; a crucible; remains <strong>of</strong> two quernstones; and a whetstone.<br />

497

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