County: Cork Site name: SHANLARAGH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 94:45 Licence number: —
Author: Jane O'Shaughnessy, Dept. of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: Standing stone - pair
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 525665m, N 559364m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.781637, -9.077331
The investigation of a pair of standing stones in Shanlaragh townland, Co. Cork, took place between 1–5 October, 1990. Funding was provided by the OPW.
The stones are located between 400-500 O.D. on a gravel ridge in an area of pasture land, c. 8km north-east of Dunmanway.
The field in which the stones stand has been subjected to on-going quarrying activity. It was found that the quarry face had been worked to within 1m of the stones on their northern side and to within 4m on the west. The surface above the quarry face had been graded. This resulted in the removal of all the original soil cover in the vicinity of the stones, exposing the underlying gravel layers everywhere, except immediately at the base of the stones. Here a small island of sod and soil remained.
The stones stand 0.9m apart and their dimensions (above sod-line) are as follows: Stone 1 (north-east), 2m high, 0.9m long, 0.3m wide. Stone 2 (south-west), 1.9m high, 1m long, 0.45m wide.
The excavation was limited to the south and east of the stones because of the proximity of the quarry edge. The exposed gravel surface was investigated for features associated with the stones and for evidence to indicate that the stones may once have been part of an alignment or circle. No evidence of this was found.
Excavation at the base of Stone 1 revealed that the stone was set in a socket cut to a depth of 0.45m below the level of the sod. The basal section of the stone was positioned close to one side of the socket and some packing stones were wedged between the stone and the wall of the socket. The fill of the socket consisted of a grey-brown, gravel-rich, silty sand. Fragments of burnt bone and occasional tiny fragments of charcoal were scattered throughout the sectioned fill of the socket.
A section of the socket of Stone 2 was also excavated. The fill was similar to the fill in the socket of Stone 1, but in this instance no cremated bone was found.
No artefacts were recovered during the excavation.
