1993:119 - CLASHEEN, Kerry

The excavation was necessitated by the widening of the main Killarney-Cork roadway, as part of the general upgrading of this primary route and involved the removal of a 2.7m-3.3m wide strip along the north-east side of the fort, where it abutted the existing roadway.

The Site
The site, a National Monument, is a bi-vallate ringfort, situated in undulating pasture land which slopes gently down to the Flesk river at the west, and is very heavily overgrown with trees and bushes.

The fort is founded on its north-east side by the present roadway, which pre-dates the 1894 edition of the Ordnance Survey, and, in the course of its construction, the outer ditch and bank of the fort were removed along its length.

The Excavation
The first task was to remove the vegetation and overgrowth on that portion of the site to be investigated. This involved the cutting down of a number of mature trees. Following this the modern wall bounding the fort was removed as were the stumps and roots of those trees which had been felled.

Removal of the wall revealed that much of the earthen material behind it had been badly disturbed, probably during the work on the present roadway and the construction of the later wall. The presence of modern bottles at a low level would seem to substantiate this idea. The earth was a dark brown loamy soil interspersed with stones and a large amount of rootwork. This disturbed soil had an average depth of 0.85m and may have originated from the partial collapse of the inner bank itself or from the destruction of the outer elements of the fort.

This disturbed soil was removed to reveal behind it an undisturbed stratigraphy in section across the length of the site. At this stage the topsoil was removed all along that portion of the site that was to be investigated. The layer was on average 0.34m thick.

This revealed a light brown gravelly soil in the inner and outer banks at the south-east end of the cutting and a red gravel soil in the fort interior and in the inner and outer bank at the north-west end of the cutting. This was due to the disturbed and denuded state of the banks at the north-west end. The red gravel soil is common to this area and would appear to have been the original soil within the fort interior.

At this point the inner and outer banks, at the south-east end of the cutting, were excavated down to the level of the fort interior. This involved the removal of the light brown soil layer which had large amounts of stone within it and was heavily networked in roots. This layer proved to be 1m thick and rested on a very fine grey sand. This layer again had stone inclusions and heavy roots. The layer was 0.65m thick and its removal revealed the red gravel soil exposed in the fort interior and north-west banks.

This red gravel layer now ran along the length of the site and showed up in section at the level of the present roadway presenting a continuous stratigraphy broken only by the inner ditch.

On the surface of this layer a spread of burnt soil, stone and iron pan (it seems to be bog iron) was exposed. This spread measured 3m x 5.6m and disappeared under the present roadway. It occurred at a point 23.2m from the north-west end of the cutting and was 0.38m below the level of the roadway. The area where this burnt material was exposed would have been directly under the inner bank, extending into the fort interior and the inner ditch. It may be evidence of some form of smelting or metal working at the site as, even though it is in part covered by the road, the stratigraphy seems relatively undisturbed.

This red gravel layer sees the lowest penetration of roots and has a large amount of stone inclusions. This layer was 0.62m in depth and its removal revealed a compact creamy gravel. This creamy gravel layer appears to be the base level of the site.

At this stage collapse and infill was removed from the inner ditch, at both ends of the cutting, to a depth of 0.75m - 0.95m where the compact sterile gravel was exposed.

Excavation of the south-east end of the cutting exposed the very definite line of the infilled outer ditch in section. The dark brown infill could clearly be seen cutting through the red gravel layer. The ditch is 2m wide at the top, 1.2m wide at base and 1.3m deep.

The total length of the excavated area is 49.4m and the maximum width is 3.87m.

This site report will be published in a forthcoming volume of the Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society.

Ashe Memorial Hall, Tralee, Co. Kerry