1986:74 - BALLY LOUGH, Waterford

Part of the Bally Lough Archaeological Project, which began in 1983.

This site was initially located by the discovery of an exposed shell midden at the eastern edge of a field on the strand. Excavation took place from 10-19 July. In all, a total of 62.1m x 0.5m test pits and two trenches (11m x 1m and 14m x 1m) were excavated. Preliminary test pits opened at 20m intervals indicated a concentration of artifacts within a 40m area. This area was further examined at 10m intervals indicating a discrete concentration of flint artifacts. Test pits at the NE edge of the site exposed a dark midden stain with shell and some charcoal. A late Mesolithic Bann flake was recovered from the interface of the plough soil and the subsoil here. The exposed shell midden was almost completely eroded and yielded very few remains. At the E end of the site a buried stone pavement lay 45cm below the surface but had no associated artifacts. A buried stone structure in the westernmost sector of the southern trench was associated with a fragment of metal.

A total of 477 artifacts was recovered, three of which, a Bann flake and 2 uniplane cores, date to the late Mesolithic. Retouched artifacts, which numbered 14, included scrapers, notches, a spokeshave and a Bann flake.

Monvoy

Excavation at this site lasted from 21 July-5 August. Initial investigation and fieldwalking indicated the site to be a rhyolite quarry with several exposed outcrops and a dense scatter of worked rhyolite was found.

Six testing areas were investigated and well over 10,000 artifacts including cores, blades, flakes, rough-outs and retouched tools were recovered. All stages of manufacture were represented from large cores and primary flakes to debitage. Trenches further from the outcrop seemed to include more material from the later phases of the reduction process and the incidence of exhausted cores and secondary and tertiary flakes increased as one moved further away from the source.

As this site is considered to be very important it is intended to conduct further excavation here.

Knockavelish

This site is located in the estuarine zone not far from Fornaught Strand. Fieldwalking of the adjacent fields yielded remains of Neolithic settlement including a plano-convex knife and a strike-a-light. Excavation took place from 7-13 July. Sixty-one test pits were opened but the site exhibited no clear patterning of prehistoric finds and no cultural features. Of the 50 flint artifacts recovered none were chronologically diagnostic.

Corbally More

Several eroding deposits of shell and burnt soil were located along the eastern shore of Brownstown Head adjacent to areas which had yielded Mesolithic artifacts. Three features were examined. These formed part of a nearly continuous cultural deposit interposed between the boulder clay and the overlying sand dunes which form the east shore of Brownstown Head.

Feature 1 consisted of a stone-lined hearth, badly eroded and set within the boulder clay below the thin cultural deposit of burnt soil, ashes and shell. No artifacts were recovered but samples have been taken for radiocarbon dating.

Feature 2 consisted of a thick deposit of burnt soil mixed with charcoal and cobbles, forming part of the shoreline bank. No artifacts were recovered but samples have been taken for radiocarbon dating.

Feature 3 consisted of a hearth in the same stratigraphical position as Feature 1 and did not yield any finds.There are no cultural indicators of the age of these features. The dimensions and composition of Feature 2 suggest it may be a fulacht fiadh.

M. Zvelebil, Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield
James A. Moore, Queen's College, City University, New York
Stanton W. Green, University of South Carolina