1999:329 - CLOGHERMORE CAVE, Cloghermore, Kerry

Following the finding of human bones in 1998, Cloghermore Cave was given National Monument status by Dúchas. The minimal rescue excavation was carried out in August 1999, funded by Dúchas. The entrance to the cave system is one-third of the way along the length of a large limestone reef that is 180m OD at its highest point and affords expansive views in all directions.

The cave system was surveyed by the Mid-West Caving Club, Limerick, in 1983 and was described as consisting of 375m of fossil passages, which run in a north-west/south-east direction for around half of the length of the system before turning to run in a north-south direction for the remainder (Condell 1985, 52–3).

Entrance to the system was through a narrow cleft on the northern side of the reef. Bones are visible throughout much of the system, but these are mostly animal bone and may have been dragged in by animals or washed into the system from above. However, the two small chambers at the southern end of the system, 'The Two Star Temple' and 'The Graveyard' (Condell 1985, 52–3), contained large quantities of bone.

The route through the system from the existing entrance to the two bone-bearing chambers at the southern end was difficult, and it was clear that this was unlikely to be the route along which the bones placed in these chambers had been carried. It was decided to seek an alternative entrance at the southern end of the system with the help of a radio-location device. This showed that the system terminated inside a D-shaped enclosure, which had been identified in a sloping field on the south side of the reef.

A 1.5m-wide trench was excavated across the enclosing bank at the north-north-east, where the slight depression indicated a possible ditch for a length of 14m. The excavation revealed that the feature consisted of two banks with a rock-cut ditch in between them, while the depression outside the bank was a very shallow, drain-like feature, which can only have been used to divert rainwater flowing down the slope, away from the enclosure.

The radio-location device showed that the system terminated in the middle of the D-shaped enclosure, so a trench measuring 2m x 3m was opened at this point. Three large slabs of limestone were uncovered; two were resting on the flat, while the third was to the western side of the trench and was at an angle, as if it had been disturbed. Voids around the two recumbent slabs clearly showed that they were sealing an entrance of some sort.

Removal of these slabs revealed an almost completely infilled shaft. The shaft was almost D-shaped on the northern side, which was composed of bedrock and some pieces of drystone walling, forming the straight side. The remaining arc of the shaft was composed almost exclusively of drystone walling. It was clear that the walling on the northern side was only necessary to facilitate the placing of the capstones and that the western side had almost completely collapsed into the shaft. However, the walling on the eastern side was intact.

A narrow opening to the cave system below could be seen, but using it would first involve the removal of the collapse and infill from the shaft. Once the shaft had been cleared of soil and stone it could be clearly seen that it allowed entry to the cave system through a narrow opening on its north-north-eastern side.

Apart from the removal of collapse inside the cave entrance, three separate test-pits were dug within the cave system-two in a recess to the east of the entrance, and one in the chamber known as 'The Graveyard'.

An attempt was made to excavate a pit in the chamber known as 'The Two Star Temple'; however, the soil cover here was found to be only 30–40mm deep and rested on a very solid stalagmite floor. The soil from an area measuring 1m2 was removed from the 'Two Star Temple' and sieved. It produced a stone spindle-whorl, an iron arrowhead and some other small iron fragments, as well as small fragments of crushed bone (a result of people walking on the unburnt remains).

The two pits in the recess to the east of the entrance were excavated because of the existence of a thin covering of stalagmite over what appeared to be a substantial area of collapse. It was hoped that this indicated the antiquity of the collapse and that undisturbed archaeological strata were preserved underneath. A few pieces of bone were recovered from the inwashed/collapsed layer in the more westerly of the two pits.

The most productive area of excavation was 'The Graveyard'. The excavation here uncovered large quantities of unburnt bone and two separate stone settings containing substantial amounts of cremated bone and three amber beads. Both settings were capped with flat slabs, while much ash was included with the cremated deposits. However, here too the deposits, though much deeper than in the 'Two Star Temple', rested on a stalagmite floor, which in turn overlay a large amount of collapsed roof stone.

Further investigation of possible deposits beneath this collapse will probably be undertaken next year.

Ashe Memorial Hall, Denny Street, Tralee, Co. Kerry