1993:177 - RATHLACKAN, Mayo

The third season lasted for ten weeks and was funded by the OPW on the recommendation of the National Committee for Archaeology of the Royal Irish Academy. Three areas were examined (see plan): the enclosure entrance (G), the court and east end of the cairn (C), and two chambers of the tomb (F and H).

(G) Enclosure wall
The only gap in the enclosure wall, defined by probing, was probably the original entrance although on excavation the wall here was very poorly defined and collapsed. A mound of clay here was very poorly defined and collapsed. A mound of clay soil at the north-west of the gap may have been a support for a jamb.

(C) Court and cairn
Most of the court area and eastern end of the cairn were excavated, revealing a full circular court, 4m in diameter, which had two surprising features. The western 2m of the court on both sides was orthostatic in contrast to the dry-walled outer portion on the north side which was uncovered in 1992 (Excavations 1992, 49) and the southern arm of the cairn was built very differently to the northern side. The outer portion of the south arm was dry-walled but much more poorly built and with much smaller stones than the substantial blocks used in the northern arm of the court. The outside revetment on the south side formed a continuous dry-walled curve in contrast to the angled northern side. The south arm had also been disturbed by a later stone structure against it which may have used robbed cairn stones and a socket revealed the position of a missing orthostat on the south side of the court.

The different use of orthostats for the inner court area and dry-walling for the outer portions may have implications for the study of other court tombs where only shallow orthostatic courts are visible, given that dry-walling would be much less likely to survive or be visible without excavation.

Within the court there was a central hearthstone surrounded by burnt soil. There were also a number of stakeholes and a narrow curving trench following part of the south side of the court in the court surface under cairn collapse. Some stakeholes were also evident in the soil surface outside the court, although none could make a definite pattern.

(F & H) Chambers
The structures of two very finely built chambers were revealed from under cairn collapse and peat growth. The roofs were partly missing and partly collapsed. Both were entered through substantial transverse jambs and had two large othostats on either side with the sides built up level with flat blocks before the overhanging corbelling began. Gaps between the orthostats were filled with smaller stones and spalls, giving a very neat finish to the interiors.

Chamber H was 2.6m long, 2.2m wide and averaged 1.5m deep. On the floor a number of broken smooth thin flagstones may have been the remains of a disturbed flooring and the only finds were a quartz core, flint flake, two chert flakes and two scrapers and a few fragments of decorated pottery with a sharp angular shoulder.

The rear chamber (F) was 2.9m long and 1.8m-2m wide. A stone which prior to the excavation was thought to be a dividing jambstone between the two chambers was revealed to be a collapsed lintel stone. About 0.3m above the floor at the south side, amongst collapsed stones, there was a small deposit of dark sandy material with charcoal which was accompanied by some sherds of a plain flat-rimmed vessel. This may be the remains of a secondary burial deposit. In the south-east quadrant of the chamber there was a large shallow pit dug into the soil and filled with a mixed silt, clay, stones and organic material which may be another burial deposit, but it contained no finds. The remaining area of the chamber had a layer of large flat flagstones which partly covered at least three separate deposits of burnt material and a fourth deposit lay on top of the slabs at the rear of the chamber. All of these may have been cremation deposits, but no bone material survived. The finds in this chamber included nine dark brown flint flakes, some chert flakes and fragments of pottery.

Finds
A total of about 700 finds have been recovered from the site and, apart from the chambers, most of the remainder were found around the entrance area to the court, both inside the court and outside on the old ground surface. Some were also found up through the collapsed stones. Some decorated pottery was found both inside and outside the court and a broken mudstone polished stone axehead came from the base of the peat outside the south kerb. A preliminary analysis of the lithic material, taken as a whole, shows that 66% is chert, 23% quartz and 9% flint and a few hammerstones. Most of the chert was waste or slightly worn flakes but the implements included 33 concave scrapers with slight concave edges on the flake sides, 19 various scrapers, seven knives, two points and a leaf arrowhead. Flint was much scarcer, including 35 unworked flakes, 14 burnt pieces from the court, two each of worked flakes, knives, scrapers and a core. Broken or struck pieces of quartz were common and a few had signs of wear.

The general character of the finds from all levels is Neolithic and it is hoped that samples of charcoal from the chambers and the court will reveal a more precise date for the construction and use of the tomb.

Ballyglass, Ballycastle, Co. Mayo