County: Galway Site name: GARRYDUFF BOG/COOLCARTA EAST
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0281
Author: Nóra Bermingham, Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit, Dept of Archaeology, University College Dublin
Site type: Pitfall trap
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 594911m, N 722864m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.256111, -8.076252
In July 1997 the Irish Archaeological Wetland Unit carried out and completed the excavation of a pit with the remains of a red deer skeleton in situ. The site was located in Garryduff Bog, Clonfert, Co. Galway, and had been reported to the NMHPS by Bord na Móna. Milling had destroyed the upper walls of the pit and led to the exposure of the skeletal material on the bog surface. Milling was interrupted until the excavation of the site was completed.
Excavation revealed the lower levels of a pit into which a red deer had fallen and become trapped. The remains of the pit measured almost 2m in length, 1.15m in width and 0.05–0.18m in depth. Continuous milling meant that the surface from which the pit was cut and the upper pit walls were no longer extant. Consequently, the original dimensions of the pit, particularly depth, may be difficult to establish.
Within the pit almost two thirds of the red deer skeleton survived, although some had been disturbed and dislodged by the force of the Bord na Móna machinery passing above it. Only small fragments of the skull survived and there was no antler or pieces of antler found. Two bones of hare and a small number of bones, probably from a juvenile sheep/goat, were also found in the pit bottom.
The pit appears to have been covered by leafy branches and brushwood which collapsed into it under the weight of the deer. Preliminary species analysis of the wood has identified the presence of willow and oak among them.
This site may have been a pitfall trap. There are references to pitfalls in the Irish Annals and in Irish folk memory. Prior to the discovery of the Garryduff site there were no material remains of pitfalls known from Ireland. Medieval examples are known from Scandinavia. A sample of wood from the pit has returned a radiocarbon date of cal. AD 1410–1650 (2 sigma) (Beta-113965). At the intercept of the radiocarbon age with the calibration curve a date of cal. AD 1460 has been returned.
During the course of this excavation two other skeletons, one of horse and the other of cow, were uncovered elsewhere in the bog. The skeleton of the horse was excavated but the cow has yet to be examined. These deposits are probably of more recent origin.
