County: Kerry Site name: 'ILLAUNLOUGHAN', Portmagee
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 87:36 Licence number: —
Author: Claire Walsh
Site type: Ecclesiastical enclosure
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 436185m, N 573362m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.888330, -10.379931
The 1992 season of excavation at Illaunloughan was undertaken in conjunction with the UCLA Overseas Research Project, led by Prof. Reiner Berger and Dr. Jenny White Marshall. The excavation continued from 15th June for 8 weeks. Labour was supplied by American volunteers. Funding for wages for qualified Irish archaeologists and post-excavation was supplied by private finance raised by Dr White Marshall and Ms Claire Cotter, who initiated the excavation.
The site is a small island, measuring less than 0.1 of a hectare in area. It contains the well-preserved remains of a gable shrine, a well, a small dry-stone oratory, and a dry-stone hut with associated midden. Excavation concentrated on the latter 2 structures. The site was used until early this century as a burial place, primarily for infants.
The oratory was completely excavated internally, and the walls stand to a height in excess of 1 m. It has a stone sill at the doorway, and a step down into the interior. Clay floors relating to its primary function survived. Several intriguing features, sealed beneath the clay floors, suggest the probability of pre-stone oratory activity on the site, possibly a wooden building. The area outside revealed an earlier, or contemporary, leacht on the north side of the structure. Also there are a series of medieval burials, oriented east-west, in the immediate vicinity of the oratory. Human bone is reasonably well preserved here. The skeletons were not excavated.
An earlier, circular, timber-built structure occurred outside the dry-stone hut. This had suffered considerable damage from coastal erosion. Several ceramic mould fragments, including a decorated fragment and a ceramic die for impressing fine detail, were recovered from the debris overlying the timber structure.
Half of the dry-stone hut was excavated. It was found to have a floor below its contemporary ground level. The associated midden was sieved in entirety, resulting in the retrieval of a large sample of faunal remains.
Samples for Carbon 14 dating were taken from all significant levels. These will be processed at UCLA. All other post-excavation work will be carried out in this country.
15 St Brigid's Rd Upr, Drumcondra, Dublin 9
