County: Clare Site name: KNOCKNALAPPA
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 42:117 Licence number: 94E0173
Author: Aidan O'Sullivan, The Discovery Programme
Site type: Platform
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 544362m, N 668841m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.767742, -8.824452
The Knocknalappa site was originally excavated by Dr. Joseph Raftery in 1937. These excavations revealed a large mound, 40m x 15m, aligned roughly east-west and built of lake marl, redeposited peat, brushwood and stone. A wooden palisade and stone breakwaters enclosed the site. Finds during the excavations included coarse-ware pottery, a bronze sword and gouge, a bronze sunflower pin, amber beads and a selection of other artefacts. Animal bone included cattle, sheep and pig. The site has usually been interpreted as a Late Bronze Age domestic site, despite the lack of evidence for house structures and the presence of relatively high-status metalwork. Because of the antiquity of the original excavation, no scientific dating or environmental analysis at the time was possible.
Recent Fieldwork
The prehistoric landscape of south-east Clare has recently been the focus of research by the North Munster Project of the Discovery Programme, including excavation at the Late Bronze Age hillfort at Mooghaun (see Excavations 1994, No. 19). The Knocknalappa site could potentially be an important element in reconstructing the various levels of settlement in the area. Fieldwork in the immediate foreshore around Knocknalappa has lead to the discovery of a number of fulachtaí fiadh, several low earthen mounds and a possible enclosure. The original section baulks of the excavation seem to be intact and the wooden palisade has been re-identified in the shallow lakewater.
Sample extraction
A licence was obtained to extract samples from the palisade for radiocarbon dating. Two roundwood posts were lifted on November 11. These were both immature ash poles, which had been sharpened at their ends using a narrow metal blade, convex in section with a tightly curved cutting edge. The wood technology suggests a Late Bronze Age date. Despite the higher lake levels, it was also possible to see that a wooden jetty feature contains several cleft oak planks, which might be useful for dendrochronological dating. In the interim, a sample has been submitted for radiocarbon dating.
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