County: Mayo Site name: BELDERGBEG
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: S. Caulfield, Department of Archaeology, University College, Dublin.
Site type: Settlement cluster and Field System
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 498173m, N 841004m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.307625, -9.564708
The excavation concentrated on the tillage area and its relationship to the round house. It would seem that the ploughing and clearance of stones from the tillage plots pre-dated the round house because (i) the house was built on a stony headland between two such plots, (ii) there was a break in the external house trench where it met the stones of the headland and (iii) plough marks were found very close to the house. There was tillage also after the house was built as the trench near the ridges is filled with a disturbed soil which suggests digging close by. The specialized function of the round house was further emphasised by the finding of another saddle quern and two rubbers in its immediate vicinity. The average width of a ridge and “seoch” combined is around one metre.
At the western end of the ridge-plots an extensive charcoal spread contained shells of hazelnut, a few broken flint scrapers and numerous sherds of pottery. The pottery is in extremely poor condition but it is possible to identify its grit as being non-quartz and similar to that in some cord ornamented pottery discovered in 1973.
