County: Cork Site name: LECKANEEN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 60:161 Licence number: —
Author: Jane O'Shaughnessy, Dept. of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: Barrow - ring-barrow
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 543162m, N 576861m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.940947, -8.826665
The excavation at Leckaneen ringbarrow took place between 8-26 October, 1990 and was funded by the OPW. The ringbarrow consists of a flat interior area, diam. 13.5m, enclosed by a ditch and bank. The ditch, though almost completely infilled, is clearly visible as a surface depression. The bank survives to a height of between 0.5-0.7m along most of its circumference. The overall diameter of the site is approx. 30m. A 5m x 5m trench was opened in the interior, encompassing the north-east quadrant and part of the central area.
Removal of the sod exposed a thin, patchy layer of humic, grey-brown silt containing spreads of charcoal. This layer overlay a thick (0.1m - 0.25m) layer of pale pink, sandy soil. The pink layer was compacted, sterile and relatively stone-free. However, at the base of the pink layer, a 0.5m wide arc of large, haphazardly-set stones was encountered. Removal of the pink layer revealed that the basal section of the arc was set in the underlying orange natural subsoil.
The arc of stones was located in the northern half of the trench, off-centre within the interior of the site. Its full extent lay beyond the edge of excavation but it appeared to form a sub-circular enclosure, diam. 4.5m. A section through the arc did not provide conclusive evidence for a foundation trench for the stones.
No artefacts or evidence for burials were recovered from the interior cutting. The orange subsoil was less compacted than the pink layer and had been extensively disturbed by rabbit burrowing.
A 1m wide section was extended from the main trench, eastward, through the ditch and bank.
The section through the ditch showed that it was originally over 3m in width with regular sides sloping to a narrow, flat-bottomed base. The upper fills were of humic soil, overlying bank collapse. Underneath these were at least three separate dumps of white, ash-like material, interleaved with thin bands of dark-brown/black, organic soil. At the base of the ditch was a thin layer of pale-grey silt. The original depth of the ditch was approx. 1.4m below the level of the interior subsoil.
Excavation of the bank section exposed a wide, shallow depression underlying the inner part of the bank, close to the outer edge of the ditch. This hollow area was basin-like in shape with sides gently sloping to a slightly rounded base, 0.4m below the level of the adjacent old ground level (OGL). The hollow measured 2m wide from east to west. The southern perimeter of the feature lay beyond the edge of excavation. A low revetment of large stones, placed on a north-south line, separated the outer edge of the ditch from the western edge of the hollow. The hollow may have been associated with the construction of the bank.
A primary core of bank appears to have been constructed immediately to the east of the hollow. This primary mound was approx. 2m wide, 0.65m high and was situated 2.5m from the edge of the ditch. The hollow area, separating the primary mound from the ditch, was then infilled with a mound of soil and further dumps of material were heaped over and against the primary mound to form a completed bank, 4m wide, which survives to a height of 0.8m above OGL.
A small, circular, hearth-like feature was discovered, sealed under the outer edge of the bank. The feature was 0.5m in diam. and consisted of a shallow concentration of small, angular, apparently heat-shattered, stones set in a matrix of dark-brown, charcoal-rich soil. A sample sufficient for a radiocarbon date was retrieved.
