1996:324 - NEW GRAVEYARD: Clonmacnoise, Offaly

Excavation continued on this site with funding from the National Monuments Service and Offaly County Council (see Excavations 1990, 49; 1991, 40–1; 1992, 53–4; 1993, 66–7;1994, 74–5; 1995, 76–7). Cutting 10, which was partially excavated in 1994, was reopened and completely excavated.

Cutting 12, an area of 212.75m2, was excavated to natural.

The main feature uncovered in Cutting 10 was a metalworking hearth, 0.8m by 0.7m, with a surrounding area (c.2m by 3m) of burnt earth and charcoal-enriched soil in which a large number of broken crucibles and moulds were found.

This material lay above an alluvial deposit of peat which sealed probable Iron Age activity.

After removal of the sod in Cutting 12 c. 0.5m of disturbed soils were sieved and approximately 200 artefacts retrieved (see below). A burial, probably dating to the post-medieval period, was found c. 0.3m below the surface, partly cutinto stratified deposits. A gravelled path/road, laid for the pope's visit to Clonmacnoise in 1979, previously located in Cuttings 1, 6, 7 and 11, was again found to have caused serious damage to the stratified features.

The stratified deposits can be roughly divided into four levels. The upper levels, probably dating to the period after AD 1000, consist of a number of pits, roughly cobbled surfaces and spreads of refuse. The underlying level, probably eighth-tenth-century, contained the remains of Round House 2 and a rectangular structure which appeared to have been surrounded by a gravelled yard with a wooden gate, walls and a large hearth. The lowest Early Christian level has evidence of stake-holes, burnt spreads and pits. Sealed under an alluvial deposit of peat and probably dating to the Iron Age are a number of trenches and pits.

The main surviving evidence is of the structures and features of the eighth-tenth centuries. The remaining third of Round House 2 (part of which had been dug in 1993) was excavated. This consisted of a platform of yellow esker sand retained by large boulders, with an internal diameter of c. 7m and a central hearth. However, many of the revetting stones on the north-east section of the circumference had been pulled out or removed during the construction of the 'pope's road' in 1979, and only some small traces of burnt ash and charcoal remained of the central hearth.

Adjacent to this structure on the east were the foundations of what was described in 1993 as a rectangular structure. The upper levels of this structure, which was c. 10. 5m long by 3.5–4m wide, indicated two phases and a possible two-cell structure. One phase had two large postholes in the side walls which may have held roof supports. Underlying the internal/end wall on the south lay a curved wall revetting a yellow sandy 'floor' apparently indicating an earlier round house (No.3), which would have been c. 6m in diameter. The rectangular structure and Round House 2 appear to have had an enclosed yard to the north-west. A gravelled surface above an artificially raised area extended between the walls of the two structures for a distance of 4m. A large posthole, c. 0.3m in diameter, with stone packing and a second stone c. 0.95m to the east appear to have formed the jambs for a wooden door. Adjacent to the jambstones door fittings were found.

To the north of the structures an area of burnt earth and charcoal surrounded a large hearth, c. 3.5m by 4m. This appears to have had an enclosing timber structure, partly of planks and partly of posts bedded in a dauby clay. It may have been used for cooking as there was no evidence for metalworking. A timber-lined pit was found to the west of this feature and a number of possible enclosure walls were also excavated.

The primary Early Christian levels contain a number of small pits, postholes and burnt soils with habitation refuse. There is evidence on the uphill side of the cutting that the ground was artificially raised above Shannon flood levels by dumping fine gravel and sand on the original sod.

Underneath the alluvial deposit on the Shannon side of the cutting, a number of postholes, trenches and a spread of broken limestone and charcoal were uncovered. A similarly sealed deposit in Cutting 6 produced an Iron Age date.

Finds
Eight hundred and nineteen artefacts were found this year. Material recovered from sieving the topsoil included a small quantity of medieval and post-medieval pottery, armour-piercing arrowheads, a sword pommel, jet/lignite bracelet fragments, bronze tweezers, needles, ring- and stick-pins, binding and decorative strips, offcuts and scrap bronze, blue glass beads, worked bone, iron knives, fish-hooks, nails and other miscellaneous iron and bone objects. Stratified material included a polished stone axe fragment, bronze stick- and ringed pins, two bronze loop-headed disc-ringed pins, decorated offcuts of bronze, two grades of bronze wire, beads of blue and green glass, stone and bone, a blue enamel bracelet with white inlay, a very large range of iron objects including several knives, fish-hooks, door fittings, an axe, decorative mounts, a penannular brooch, pointed and slotted objects, jet/lignite bracelet fragments, two bone motif-pieces and a bone handle with an Ogham inscription, a bone comb with ring and dot and bird-head terminals, crucible and mould fragments, a stone bracelet, mortar, slag and furnace bottoms, hones, cross-slab fragments and flint scrapers.

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