County: Sligo Site name: RATHDOONEY BEG
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 33:30 Licence number: 94E0015
Author: Charles Mount
Site type: Barrow - bowl-barrow and Barrow - ring-barrow
Period/Dating: Iron Age (800 BC-AD 339)
ITM: E 566058m, N 818408m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.113619, -8.519099
This research excavation took place over four weeks from March 14 to April 5, 1994 and was funded by the OPW on the recommendation of the National Committee for Archaeology. The site consists of three barrows; Sites 1 and 2 are bowls and Site 3 is a saucer barrow. The interior of Site 3 was investigated with a single cutting 7m x 4m; to recover profiles of the bank and ditch a narrow trench 6m x 1m was extended to the north. The barrow is 16.5m in overall diameter and is enclosed by a penannular U-shaped ditch (1.6m wide and 0.68m in depth), and an external bank (1.7m thick and 0.25m high). The eastern ditch terminal ran out 1.1m short of the ditch of Site 2. This was not an entrance causeway as the site opened onto the larger ditch of Site 2.
Sealed within the interior of the mound were three shallow charcoal-filled pits. One of these, Feature 6 (0.23m in diameter and 0.13m deep), was situated in the south-western part of the barrow. The sides of the pit undercut the top giving the appearance that it had been dug by hand. It contained two layers of fill; a layer of charcoal filling the base and sides of the pit with small pieces of cremated bone and nuggets of charcoal mixed through its centre, and a more rich charcoal fill above. This was sealed by a dark brown/grey layer of humus. The charcoal from this pit has been radiocarbon dated and a result at two standard deviations of cal BC 114-cal AD 71 (2015 ± 40 BP) (UB-3825) places the burial and barrow firmly into the Iron Age.
The ditch of Site 2 was also investigated. It had a wide slack profile with a flat bottom (0.7m wide, c. 2.1m in maximum width and 0.68m in depth), and its cut formed a continuous profile running from the mound of Site 2 to the interior of Site 3. It contained four layers of fill. The primary silt contained a layer of charcoal and a number of portions of carbonised wood including an oak plank (0.5m x 0.16m). This was unfortunately not well enough preserved for a dendrochronological date. However, a radiocarbon determination at two standard deviations was cal BC 380 - 120 (2138 ± 38 BP) (UB - 3826). Although the wood may have been fairly old when it found its way into the ditch, this suggests that the ditch of Site 2 was open and filling with silt before the construction of Site 3; and that Site 2 is of Iron Age date or earlier. The structural implications are that Site 3 was built onto Site 2.
References
Mount, C. 1994. "Geophysical Survey at Rathdooney Beg, Co. Sligo," in I. Bennett (Ed.) Excavations 1993. Dublin, Wordwell Ltd., 82.
Mount, C., 1995 "Excavations at Rathdooney Beg, Co. Sligo," Emania 13.
Foxhill, Wheaton Hall, Drogheda, Co. Louth
