1994:111 - DÚN AONGHASA, Kilmurvey, Inis Mór, Galway

A third season of excavation was carried out at Dún Aonghusa over a thirteen-week period in summer 1994. Nine cuttings were excavated, including completion of excavation in Cutting 1 (the large cutting in the inner enclosure) and Cutting 2 (first opened in 1992). Apart from ongoing excavation of the Late Bronze Age settlement area, excavations this year focused on the relationship between the upstanding walls and the cultural layers which survive at the site. Cuttings 5, 6 and 7 lay outside the middle enclosure and related to Wall 3 and Wall 4 ( the outer wall). No archaeological deposits survived within these cuttings and a thin sod cover came off onto the bedrock. The foundations of both walls sat on bedrock or a thin deposit of natural clays. Cutting 4 and Cutting 2 lay immediately outside the inner enclosing wall (Wall 1) along the north-western and western sectors. The wall foundations uncovered in Cutting 2 in 1992 were fully exposed and over a short stretch this wall survived to a height of 0.5m and was 2m wide. Occupation material abutted the face of the wall and a sample of animal bone from this has given a C14 date range of 900–699 cal. BC. No archaeological deposits were evident west of the wall foundations and it appears that this wall formed the north-western edge of the Late Bronze Age settlement. Cutting 4 lay closer to the cliff edge and extended from Wall 1 to Wall 2b. No occupation material was evident, but the remains of a quarry ditch, running parallel to Wall 1, were uncovered. The ditch measured 0.86m in depth and was 2.36m wide. It appears to have continued as far as the cliff edge on the south. No dating evidence was recovered. The ditch was infilled with rubble - probably derived from the core of Wall 1 as the external face of the wall shows evidence of rebuilding along this sector.

As part of the excavations this year it was hoped to cut a part-section into Wall 1 to examine both the make-up of the wall and the sealed deposits beneath it. However, after a trial area had been excavated, safety and engineering assessments indicated that the proposed section would involve the removal of up to 50 tons of stone and require extensive shoring. This section was therefore abandoned, but it was possible to excavate a much smaller area at the southern end of Wall 1. Here, close to the cliff-edge, the terminals of Wall 1 have been rebuilt continuously over the years owing to stones being thrown over the cliff by visitors to the site. The southern terminal of the western section of Wall 1 has now been rebuilt with mortar but the rebuilt section (2m wide) is only about half the thickness of the original. The original foundations project on the interior and it was possible to cut back into these. The section excavated was small- c. 0.5m in width and just under 2m in length. The wall foundations sat on banked-up occupation material (max. depth 0.5m) and the wall had been built up in a series of vertical layers. Finds were few but included a number of sherds of coarse cooking ware. No later artefacts (e.g. iron fragments) were noted but the cutting was too small to draw any definite conclusions about the construction date of the wall. The rebuilt section of Wall 1 appears to form the western limit to the spread of Late Bronze Age occupation material in Cutting 1 and this was confirmed by the absence of occupation material on the exterior at this point (i.e. Cutting 4).Cuttings 3 and 9 were opened on the interior of Wall 2a. Cutting 3 was located near the cliff edge where the now ruined southern terminal of the wall allowed a section to be cut through it. The remains of a midden extended in under the inner face of the wall and ran to abut a second face lying 0.3m behind the present inner face. This may represent an earlier wall subsequently extended or thickened or it is possible that (like Wall 1) the wall here was also built in vertical sections. The midden contained a blue glass bead and some very eroded pottery.

Cutting 9 was located on the interior of the blocked-up entrance in Wall 2a. Along this sector the wall was made up of two distinct sections consisting of a lower terrace butted back against the main wall. The foundations of the terrace sat on a raft of rubble, over 1m in height, which also incorporated some occupation material. Pottery, a stone axe and a bone pin were recovered and it seems likely that this material was derived from Late Bronze Age occupation in the vicinity. The main wall was built directly on the natural clays and may therefore be earlier.

A paved entrance passage led up to the doorway. This had been partly cut down into the underlying shale deposits and when in use would have resembled a sunken way. However the passage appears to have been backfilled shortly after its construction. Two thresholds formed of large stones on edge may also have been inserted at this time and the lintelled doorway in the main wall may also date to this period. At some stage after the infilling of the entrance passage a burial was inserted immediately outside the outermost threshold.

The burial has been examined by Barra Ó Donabháin and is that of an individual aged between 12 and 14 years at the time of death. The body was in a crouched position, lying on its back with the legs tightly flexed. The head was missing but a number of teeth in the grave suggest that the body was originally buried intact. A sample of bone from the burial gave a C14 date range of cal. AD 782–1160 (Gra-825; 1040 + 60 BP). Part of a second skeleton was also included in the grave. Two amber beads found in the backfill of the entrance passage may originally have been associated with the burials.

In summary, excavations this year indicated that the Late Bronze Age habitation area was confined to within what is now the inner enclosure and to the middle enclosure east of Cutting 2. The living area appears to have been enclosed by the wall in Cutting 2 and possibly by Wall 2a (an earlier version than the present wall, perhaps slighter and unterraced). The habitation area within the present inner enclosure also appears to have been enclosed and current interpretation suggests that either an earlier version of Wall 1 was in existence or that Wall 2a originally continued to the cliff edge. Though no datable material was uncovered in the outer cuttings, it seems likely that the outer wall also belongs to this period.

The fort was certainly extensively remodelled at a later period (Later Iron Age ?) but it is also possible that another phase of development took place in the long interval between the construction of the original hillfort and the final remodelling of the fort. A further season of excavation is planned for 1995.

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