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

Offaly
The early medieval crannog at Ballinderry No. 2 produced a large numbers of finds. A dugout
boat was found beside the house area, between the inner and outer palisades. The site also
produced such high-status items as pennanular brooches (ninth-century types), two ringed
pins (ninth/tenth century date) and stick pins. There were also many items of personal
adornment, including beads, bone combs, pins and bone cylinders (and some bone gaming
pieces). Clothing included leather shoes and textiles, found outside the palisade. Tools or
agricultural equipment included knives, shears and spade (found outside the palisade),
wooden spindles, mallets and wedges, as well as wooden buckets, lathe-turned vessels and
wooden troughs. There were also fragments of eight rotary querns and two whole lower
stones from querns. Swords were found outside the palisade, spearheads were recovered
from the lake muds and there was also an iron shield boss. Intriguingly, there were also some
modern forgeries from the site, inspired by antiquarian interest in it in the nineteenth century
and the presence of an iron ladle, iron anvil and a soldering iron suggests that some were
even being produced on the site.
The early medieval crannog at Ballinderry crannog No. 2 was probably occupied by fairly
wealthy inhabitants in both its sixth century and ninth century phases, people who had
access to high-status metalwork, glass and amber and were themselves engaging in a small
amount of metalworking, woodworking and perhaps textile production. The crannog may not
have been re-constructed many times before its abandonment. The economy of site was
reconstructed from the faunal assemblages. There were several rotary querns, suggesting the
importance of tillage and arable crops. A large assemblage of cattle bone was taken to
indicate the importance of grazing, pig and horse bones were also plentiful. There may have
been some limited hunting of wild animals, but there seems to have been relatively little
exploitation of wildfowl or fish.
Fig. 267. Plan of Ballinderry crannog No. 2, Co. Offaly (after Hencken 1942, pl. IX).
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