1974:053 - REASK, Kerry

The roadway which ran through the site was diverted around the enclosure and the redundant tarred surface removed. Bad weather made the intended full excavation of this area impossible. A portion of the area formerly covered by the roadway was investigated and traces of another clochán structure were exposed, which contained the remains of a metal or glass industry. This suggests that the damage or disturbance caused by the roadway may only be of a superficial nature. One of the internal dividing walls and the central habitation level extends under the roadway and as the majority of the small finds have come from this sector it is encouraging to note such a small degree of interference.

During the 1974 season excavation was concentrated largely on the burial area surrounding the small oratory uncovered in 1973. The later graves associated with the use of the site as a ceallunach were fully recorded and removed. Three of these graves had been inserted within the western end of the oratory with two early cross-slabs re-used as sidestones. The soil here is unfavourable for the preservation of bone, as only minute quantities of human bone were found, and no animal bone whatever.

Underlying these secondary burials was a series of lintel graves. There were generally well constructed with their sides lined with small stone slabs and covered by suitably selected lintels which are their main identifying feature. They have an east-west orientation and although the full nature and extend of this early cemetery has yet to be determined it is clear that the majority, if not all, of these graves predate the construction of the oratory. Some of them underlie the oratory walls with, in places, a layer of soil circa 30cm thick between the lintels and the basal courses of the oratory. To date only one example out of the twenty uncovered has been fully excavated and this did not yield any skeletal remains.

Of the two further cross-inscribed stones discovered in 1974 one example is of considerable interest decorated as it is with a Greek cross within a square frame with a stylized bird (probably a peacock) in the upper right hand corner. This motif can be paralleled in the early centuries of Christianity in the east Mediterranean area.

The full extent of the original enclosure wall was revealed during the 1973 season and in 1974 it was established that this wall predated the construction of the two groups of conjoined clochans.

Excavation of the central occupation level was almost complete by the end of the 1974 season. Further sherds of hand-made coarse ware were found, and a number of wheel made sherds identified as belonging to Thomas’s Bii ware- the imported amphorae of the 5th and 6th centuries AD from the East Mediterranean area. A number of glass beads and stone spindle whorls were also recovered.

From the evidence uncovered to date it would appear that the site at Reask can be regarded as an early Christian cemetery and as belonging to a class of field monument to which the term enclosed cemetery or developed cemetery (in view of its structural sequence) can be applied.