1993:187 - NEW GRAVEYARD, Clonmacnoise, Offaly

Excavation continued on this site between July and October with funding from the Office of Public Works and Offaly County Council (see Excavations 1990, 48; 1991, 40-41; 1992, 53-4).

The 1993 excavation was undertaken in a large irregularly shaped cutting measuring 108.8 sq. m and uncovered four main features apart from a number of postholes, pits, small hearths and deposits of charcoal and iron working debris. Another round house and a rectangular structure were uncovered. Both probably date to the period between the 7th and 9th centuries. A man-made hollow in which there was extensive dumping of ash, charcoal and burnt clay deposits together with a large refuse pit may belong to the 10th to 12th centuries.

In addition, monitoring of graves which were dug elsewhere in the graveyard during the excavation season was undertaken. This has also been carried out in previous years and confirmed that the entire graveyard has stratified material to a depth of over 2.2m. One grave yielded a quantity of large and small crucibles (some had not been used), mould fragments, scrap bronze, iron objects, bone with bronze stains, and charcoal and must represent an area of metal working.

Round House 2:
The western third of a large circular house was uncovered in the eastern half of the cutting. It consisted of a semi-circle of 13 large boulders, mainly of limestone, retaining a platform of yellow sand. The stones were on average 0.8m in diameter. The sand varied in depth from 0.12m-0.5m and was deeper on the downhill side of the cutting. This variation in depth may have been an attempt to provide a level foundation surface for the structure. A gap in the stone circle on the south-west side suggests the presence of a doorway. Probing the ground to the east indicated that the remainder of the stone circle survives and indications are that the structure will have an approximate diameter of 8.5m.

Rectangular Structure:
Approximately 1m to the west of Round House 2 the foundations of a rectangular structure were uncovered. The two structures would appear to be contemporary. The complete east wall measuring 6.2m (internally) was uncovered while 3.4m of the south wall and approximately 0.8m of the north wall were excavated. The walls were built of roughly coursed limestone boulders measuring on average 0.3m in diameter and standing to a maximum height of five courses. No evidence for a superstructure survived. Internally there were several attempts to provide a ‘platform’ or a ‘floor’ for the structure. This ‘flooring’ feature is dissimilar to the round house in that it did not appear to have been constructed of one type of material laid down in one operation but rather several discrete deposits/dumps of sands and gravels. Some deposits consisted of clean spreads of sand or gravel while other deposits contained artefacts, charcoal and burnt clay and appear to be material brought from elsewhere and redeposited within the walls. No hearth has been found to date and a function for the structure has yet to be determined.

Iron-working hollow ?
A large hollow 7.5m north-south x 5m east-west appears to have been cut into natural along the west side of the cutting. The north end of this had six flat flags (steps?) leading from the south wall of the rectangular structure down into the hollow. To the south at the earliest level there was a deep layer of charcoal which contained a number of furnace bottoms and slag together with a large amount of animal bone. Above this there were over 20 different deposits of ash and charcoal.

Pit
At the south end of the cutting a large pit 2.4m in diameter by 1.6m in depth was cut through a yellow sandy floor. There was no stratigraphy in the pit but a quantity of animal bone, iron objects and a bronze mushroom-headed pin with radial grooves (a watch-winder) were found.

Finds
Four hundred and sixty-six artefacts were found this year. Material was recovered from the disturbed levels by sieving and included a chert hollow-based arrow-head and a leaf-shaped blade, a cross-slab fragment, a jet/lignite bracelet fragment and a piece of waste jet/lignite, bronze pin fragments, decorated bronze waste pieces, a decorative bronze strip, a bronze buckle, a crucible, a barrel padlock key, iron knives, bone comb fragments, a bone needle, a blue glass bead fragment, off-cuts of bone and antler and a 1640s farthing.

Stratified material included cross slab fragments, a quern fragment, sharpening stones and hone stones, a bronze mushroom-headed pin with radial grooves, a bronze binding strip, decorated bronze plates with rivets, off-cuts of bronze, folded bronze wire in two thicknesses, a crucible fragment, iron spacers, nails, brackets, staples, hinge pivots, punch and knives, an iron awl with bone handle, a fragmentary decorative iron ‘mount’, a single piece bone comb decorated with ring and dot ornament, bone pins and points, off-cuts of bone and antler, blue glass bracelet fragments, jet/lignite bracelet fragments, a core from a lathe-turned jet/lignite bracelet, a fragmentary yellow glass bead with cable decoration, E-ware, baked clay (? mortar/mould fragments), furnace material and slag. A very large quantity of animal bones and fish bones was again collected.