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

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Sligo<br />

Phase 4 was an open stony platform devoted to iron working, with radiocarbon dates<br />

between A.D. 600 and A.D. 900. <strong>The</strong> site had a uniform floor <strong>of</strong> stone and bone, and was<br />

covered with small, shattered and fire-cracked stones (0.10m thick). <strong>The</strong> stones were mixed<br />

with animal bones, suggesting that this was a deliberate floor deposit. <strong>The</strong>re was no house<br />

on the platform, which was probably open to the air. <strong>The</strong>re was no palisade, suggesting a<br />

decreasing role <strong>of</strong> the island’s boundary. <strong>The</strong>re was a bowl-shaped depression in the<br />

southwest corner <strong>of</strong> the crannog, possibly in origins a furnace for iron-working, set in a floor<br />

<strong>of</strong> fire-cracked stones. <strong>The</strong>re was some iron slag in this area, although there were not large<br />

amounts. A heavy stone may have been used as an anvil. <strong>The</strong>re were deposits <strong>of</strong> animal<br />

bone all over the site (comprising 30% <strong>of</strong> the site assemblage), with large amounts<br />

comprising a floor at the eastern edge <strong>of</strong> the crannog. <strong>The</strong> bone was frequently fragmented,<br />

suggesting that it had been walked into the crannog’s surface. <strong>The</strong> Phase 4 burned and unburnt<br />

bone included at least 20 cattle, nine pig, seven sheep, four horse, one deer and one<br />

dog. Finds from across the site included an antler ring, smooth white stones (possibly used in<br />

crafts), a tracked stone (for sharpening pins) and a lignite bracelet in the sand.<br />

Phase 5 was the final phase <strong>of</strong> occupation in the early Middle Ages, probably no later than<br />

A.D. 1000. A stone cairn was constructed across the site, with angular stones and boulders<br />

laid on it, with a mid-cairn on the lakeward site. It is possible that it had a superstructure <strong>of</strong><br />

planks or that it was unfinished.<br />

Radiocarbon Dates:<br />

(PJ Reimer, MGL Baillie, E Bard, A Bayliss, JW Beck, C Bertrand, PG Blackwell, CE Buck, G Burr, KB Cutler, PE<br />

Damon, RL Edwards, RG Fairbanks, M Friedrich, TP Guilderson, KA Hughen, B Kromer, FG McCormac, S Manning, C<br />

Bronk Ramsey, RW Reimer, S Remmele, JR Southon, M Stuiver, S Talamo, FW Taylor, J van der Plicht, and CE<br />

Weyhenmeyer (2004), Radiocarbon 46:1029-1058).<br />

Sample No.<br />

Context<br />

14 C Date Cal. 2 Σ<br />

N/A N/A N/A A.D. 770-970.<br />

N/A N/A N/A A.D. 600-900.<br />

N/A N/A N/A A.D. 600-900.<br />

References:<br />

Fredengren, C. 1998. Lough Gara through time. Archaeology Ireland, 12(1), 31–3.<br />

Fredengren, C. 2001. Poor people’s crannogs. Archaeology Ireland, 15(4), 24–5.<br />

Fredengren, C. 2002. Crannogs: A study <strong>of</strong> people’s interaction with lakes, with particular<br />

reference to Lough Gara in the north-west <strong>of</strong> Ireland, 223–46. Bray. Wordwell.<br />

633

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