1998:284 - SCRAHANE 1, Kerry

The site at Scrahane lies approximately half a mile south of Killarney town centre. The denuded remains of a circular enclosure were present in the north-west corner of the site, and, because of planning regulations for a housing development in the field, the site was the subject of ongoing archaeological activity from 1996 (Excavations 1997, 87). This work revealed evidence of smelting activity, including hearths, charcoal spreads and ash pits, in areas both inside and to south of the cropmark enclosure.

The cropmark site itself was the subject of an excavation carried out over seven weeks from March to May 1998. The eastern perimeter of the enclosure ditch lay within the proposed green area of the development and was not uncovered.

Excavation revealed that there was a second curvilinear ditch inside the line of the main enclosure. It is likely that these are contemporary, although this could not be demonstrated archaeologically. Both were stratigraphically earlier than the smelting phase, and the inner ditch in particular had almost completely filled up before metalworking activity. No internal archaeological features were found relating to the earlier ditches, and there was no evidence of a bank.

The outer ditch: F10
The outer enclosure was circular in plan and measured 38m in external and 32m in internal diameter. A total circuit of 22.5m of the ditch was excavated, and it had a broad U-shaped profile with a flat base. It varied from 2.35m to 3.66m wide and from 0.69m to 1.13m deep. The entrance to the enclosure appeared to be on the west side of the site and had apparently been formed by leaving a portion of the ditch undug.

The excavated sections of the northern half of the ditch showed that it had been almost completely filled before the smelting phase, which was represented in the upper ditch fills as deposits of ash and spreads of charcoal. It was clear that there had been very little fill in the southern part of the ditch before extensive deposits of ash and charcoal containing metal slag were discarded into the base.

The inner ditch: F100
The inner ditch enclosed a subcircular area 25m north-south x c. 22m. In total c. 24m of the ditch was excavated. It had a well-defined, narrow V-shaped profile with a flat base, ranging from 0.62m to 1.39m wide and from 0.42m to 0.89m deep. It lay inside the outer ditch, but as it was not completely circular it did not respect the curvature of F10 and the distance between the two ditches varied. The circuit of the ditch was broken in two places within the area of excavation, both towards the northern end of the site. The shorter, northern section of ditch was 19.2m long and had rounded terminals at both ends. The southern section was 35.4m long and also had a rounded terminal at its northern end. The gap between these two sections was 2.4m. A fourth terminal should have been apparent in the north-eastern part of the site, but no definite evidence of the inner ditch could be found in that area, possibly as a result of intense cultivation. The inner ditch had partially filled before the beginning of metalworking at this site and, as with the outer ditch, had been used as a convenient dump for waste material from the firing process.

The smelting phase
Two main concentrations of smelting activity were noted within the enclosure, and many isolated smelting-related features were scattered throughout the southern end of the excavated area. In most areas the activity was of a single phase, although there was evidence of two separate phases of activity in Smelting Area 1 at the south-eastern end of the site.

Smelting Area 1 lay in the south-east corner of the site, and two main phases of metalworking activity were recognised. The primary phase consisted of a furnace around which was a semicircular arrangement of stake-holes. The stake-holes may represent the remains of a superstructure or a screen around the furnace. Three large ash pits to the south and west of the furnace had apparently been dug to contain smelting waste.

An extensive layer of very compact, white, sandy ash containing a few small stones and occasional metal slag sealed the features associated with the primary smelting phase. This layer measured 4.2m x 3.7m and varied in depth from 0.04m to 0.07m. A reuse of the hearth and the construction of a smaller superstructure/screen represented the second phase of smelting. More extensive spreads of charcoal were also noted at this level.

Smelting Area 2 lay close to the centre of the site. The main focus of activity was a hearth around which numerous small pits and stake-holes were dug. The underlying soil in this area had been oxidised red from intense burning, and the surface over time became covered by a layer of charcoal containing pockets of white ash. A large pit lay c. 1.5m to the south of the hearth and may also have been associated with the smelting activity. Two charcoal-filled pits to the west of the smelting area were also associated with this phase.

A small number of isolated smelting features were noted and recorded during the course of the excavation. Most of these were concentrated in the southern area of the enclosure.

Conclusions
Excavation of the cropmark site at Scrahane, Killarney, revealed a double-ditched enclosure (of an as yet unknown date) and a later phase of metal smelting. No features or deposits associated with the original use of the ditches survived, and as a result it was not possible to obtain absolute dates for the site. The morphology of the site indicates that it is unlikely to be a ringfort.

It will be possible to obtain 14C dates from the smelting phase of activity, and as the enclosure is earlier than the smelting this will be useful in establishing a terminus post quem for the ditches. The type of metal slag found at Scrahane 1 has been found at only one other Irish site, at Ross Island, just a few miles away. In advance of obtaining the results of the 14C analysis it seems likely that the smelting activity at Scrahane 1 is contemporary with the later phase at Ross Island, which has an Early Christian date (O'Brien, pers. comm.).