County: Galway Site name: HIGH ISLAND
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 21:026C Licence number: 95E124ext.
Author: Georgina Scally
Site type: Ecclesiastical enclosure
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 450416m, N 757533m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.546400, -10.257199
In the summer of 1997 a third season of excavation was carried out at the Early Christian monastery on High Island, Co. Galway. The excavation was funded by the National Monuments and Historic Properties Service of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands. Excavation was concentrated in five areas.
In Area 1 (located outside the east end of the church), a fifth grave (of the eight identified) was excavated and an extended skeleton removed. (In 1995 and 1996 four graves were excavated, three of which contained skeletons dated to between the 9th and 12th centuries: Excavations 1995, 35–6; 1996, 43–4). The remaining three 'graves', located at the north end of the east wall, do not appear to have functioned as such, despite being marked by footstones, a headstone (removed) and a recumbent slab. Deposits excavated so far from these 'graves' extend beneath the east wall of the church and therefore pre-date it.
In Area 2, located inside the church, an extensive layer of burning extending beneath three of the four church walls was fully excavated. This deposit separated two levels of stone paving, the earliest of which was associated with a circular posthole in the central area of the church. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from the burnt deposit has yielded two Iron Age dates so far; however, further analysis of this 'charcoal' is being undertaken so as to preclude the possibility that it is derived from burnt peat. Quantities of burnt and unburnt bird/fish and animal bone, including some pig bones, have been identified in this deposit.
In Area 3, the larger of the two upstanding beehive cells located to the east of the church and enclosure wall, a paving level was partially exposed. A stone-lined hearth and a deposit of burnt ash containing food remains were also uncovered. Large quantities of stone were excavated from the upper levels of the cell interior, the quantity far exceeding that which could have resulted from collapse.
In Area 4, the smaller of the two upstanding beehive cells located to the north of the church and enclosure wall, stone paving was exposed beneath collapsed rubble; a burnt deposit lay beneath the paving.
Excavation in Area 5, an L-shaped trench linking the west enclosure wall to the cashel wall, commenced late in the season and, to date, no formalised structures or features have been identified.
A number of decorated stones were uncovered from the graves at the east end of the church (Area I): one of these depicted a figure in the orant position. Further excavation is proposed for 1998.
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