1994:206 - KNOXSPARK, Sligo

The site consists of a promontory fort, enclosed by a fosse, and internal enclosure situated on a ridge located in a bend of the Ballysadare river, enclosed on three sides by the river and on the fourth by the expanse of a silted marshy lake. As the eastern part of the site was to be removed by the Collooney to Ballysadare by-pass the author was asked by Sligo County Council to carry out excavations in advance of road construction. This work took place over a three-month period from May 10 to July 29, 1994. The discovery of an extensive cemetery on the site eventually led to the redesign of the road and the preservation of the site. The internal enclosure was subsequently reinstated to its original, pre-excavation form and all areas of the site reseeded.

The promontory fort fosse was examined in a number of trenches and an extensive area, 12.6m long, was excavated and a portion of the entrance causeway examined. South-east of the causeway the fosse was U-shaped with a sloping outer and a steeper inner side. It measured c. 1.07m wide at the base, c. 3.8m wide at the top, widening to c. 5m at the western terminal. It was cut into a layer of grey boulder clay and contained a series of fills including a layer of large stones and boulders, representing the demolition of the internal bank and its stone facing. There is no direct evidence for when this occurred but it may have been in the 18th or 19th centuries when the Knoxspark ridge was extensively cultivated.

Within the internal enclosure were the east and west cairns. The east cairn contained a substantial cremation and artefact deposit and was situated on the old ground surface with no inhumation burials stratified beneath it. It measured 4.5m x 4.2m and was 0.54m high above the old ground surface. There was a substantial quantity of stone to the east of the cairn which appeared to have tumbled off it, reducing its height. The west cairn measured 3.2m x 3m, was a maximum of 0.4m high, and was constructed of smaller stones. It covered a possible furnace and at least one child burial. The excavation of these deposits is not complete. The two cairns were linked by an enigmatic arrangement of boulders on the northern side, 6m long. To the east this walling developed into what appeared to be a tumbled field wall which extended to the south-east and partly enclosed the east cairn.

The cemetery surrounded the two cairns and consists of burials in pits. The inhumations were of three main types: crouched, flexed and extended. In most cases the heads were oriented to the west or south-west. All of the burials were in simple dug pits but in a few cases these appeared to have been outlined with stones. Some of the burials contained grave goods, either in metal or stone, and others contained animal bones. To date a minimum of 185 inhumation burials have been noted on the site, but ongoing skeletal analysis will alter this figure. The burials consisted primarily of extended inhumations usually (51 examples) with the heads to the west and the feet to the east. Two individuals were extended on their sides. Three burials were crouched and three burials were flexed. There were 11 examples of skulls only without any other body parts. Eight-two burials were disturbed and 13 were disarticulated. Twenty burials were only partially excavated and have been left in situ .

One interesting burial group consisted of Burial 4, an adult male, who was buried c. 0.4m–0.5m in depth on his back and oriented with the head to the west, lower body to the east and arms akimbo. Despite the excellent preservation of this skeleton only a small portion of the skull, the chin and some lower teeth were preserved. The right arm of Burial 75, another adult male, ran directly beneath the arm of Burial 4 indicating that the two individuals were buried at the same time. A socketed iron spearhead (Find No. 429) was situated beside the lower vertebrae of Burial 4 and may have originally been in the man's hand. Burial 75 was extended on its back with the trunk to the west and the feet to the east. The head had been removed from the neck and may be represented by the skull Burial 24. A radiocarbon determination from a femur of Burial 4 places the death of this individual at 1184±31BP (cal AD 772-898 and 919-942 at 2), therefore this double burial with its associated spearhead dates from the 8th to the early 10th century with a central date of 873.

The rectangular enclosure is 23m north-south by 19m east-west with its long axis running almost due north-south. The wall is up to 2.2m thick and survives to 0.95m in height. It was constructed with an external stone facing composed of spaced uprights and continuous walling of boulders in places. The best preserved section of walling consists of four spaced uprights and dry-stone walling of small boulders and stones forming a curving section of walling up to 0.8m high. The internal wall facing consists of a discontinuous line of medium sized boulders. These walls retained a feature which contained a substantial number of artefacts and organic remains and was derived from an occupation surface. The bank overlay the old ground surface and cut into this layer were Burial 27 and Burial 58 which pre-date the construction of the rectangular enclosure.

The entrance to the enclosure was set asymmetrically in the southern part of the western side of the enclosure. It was aligned a little to the south of west (not quite south-west or north-east) and consisted of a pair of large orthostatic stones set with their narrow sides east-west forming the western side of the entrance, 0.72m apart. Behind the northern stone was a second large upright but the southern side of the entrance had no internal stone. The entrance itself was partly blocked by three low jamb-stones in the manner of a megalithic tomb. Burial 7 had been placed into the old ground surface in the inner end of the entrance. At some point in the use of the enclosure the entrance had been completely blocked with soil and stones and was not discernible until the wall was excavated.

An extensive area of about 545m2 was opened on the eastern side of the promontory fort where the line of the road crossed the line of the promontory fort fosse. This area consisted entirely of a fine cultivation soil which extended to 0.4–0.5 in depth. This extended from the exterior side of the internal rectangular enclosure, across the top of the promontory fort fosse and to the edge of the damp marl indicating the shore-line of the former lake. Situated on this cultivation soil was a corn-drying kiln. This consisted of a stone structure, a series of upright stones which surrounded an area of burnt soil and charcoal. It was oriented north-west to south-east with the flue opening to the north-west and the furnace to the south-east and measured 2.8m long. The oval furnace measured 0.9m x 1.3m. It contained a charcoal rich layer with fragments of burnt bone, sand and seeds. This extended to the south-east over an area measuring 7.5m north-south by a maximum of 4m east-west. It is hoped, once the results of the 1994 season are published, to return to the site for further work.

ReferenceMount C., 1994. "From Knoxspark to Tír na nÓg," Archaeology Ireland 29, 22–3.

Foxhill, Wheaton Hall, Drogheda, Co. Louth