County: Clare Site name: LATOON SOUTH (Area 3)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0332 ext.
Author: Billy Quinn, Archaeological Services Unit Ltd.
Site type: Standing stone, Enclosure and Kiln - corn-drying
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 536929m, N 671072m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.786980, -8.935017
Archaeological work at Area 3, Latoon South, as part of the Ballycasey to Dromoland Road Improvement Scheme, involved the excavation of three principal features—a standing stone, a corn-drying kiln and a ditched enclosure.
The standing stone, lying directly in the path of the proposed roadway, consisted of a well-weathered lump of limestone standing 1.6m high. It was situated centrally in a partially flooded meadow and prior to excavation was badly rutted at the base. The investigation of a 6m2 box trench surrounding the stone revealed that the stone stood unsupported on a natural gravel bed with no socket cut or associated features. The few finds retrieved from the topsoil were all of modern date, and, with little evidence to the contrary, it is likely that the stone was erected as a scratching post.
Exposed to the south of this during a monitored programme of topsoil-stripping were the remains of a kiln. This keyhole-shaped feature had three components—a fire-bowl, a flue and a drying chamber. It was 7m long and consisted of a prepared hollow lined with randomly coursed, roughly hewn limestone. The upper fills were made up of redeposited silt and fragments of the capstones. The base layers contained a number of charcoal-rich deposits. There was no evidence of seeds, though the kiln’s shape, size and similarity to other examples suggest that it was used for drying grain.
Further to the south, in the direction of Ballygireen, a section of a ditched enclosure was uncovered. The ditch, two-thirds of which was contained within the road corridor, was variously disturbed by plough furrows, a later townland boundary wall and a deep circular cut. It had an internal diameter of 24.3m with an average width of 2.5m and a depth of 1.7–2m. An assortment of stone finds was retrieved from the fill, including a number of chert scrapers, a fragment of a stone axehead and a grinding stone.
Inside the enclosure was a subcircular cut. This cut, located north of centre, had an average diameter of 8m and a depth of 1.3m with sharply sloping sides breaking to an uneven base. It contained a number of different fills, the earliest of which was a dump of medium to large limestone boulders. The finds recovered from this feature represented a mixed assemblage including a bone bead necklace, a number of chert scrapers and fragments of a clay pipe. The pipe fragments from a secure context would suggest a relatively late date for this backfill material, indicating that the site was deliberately robbed out in post-medieval times.
A number of other related features were excavated in the general vicinity. These include a linear trench, two large post-holes (1m wide) and a number of pits, some containing charcoal-rich material with no trace of burnt bone.
The artefactual evidence from the south-east of Area 3 represents a mixed assemblage with a date range from the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age to post-medieval times. The multi-phased features, i.e. the ditched enclosure, the circular cut, the furrows and the boundary wall, testify to the various stages of activity on the site and account for much of the disturbance in many of the contexts.
The earliest feature, the ditched enclosure, presents more questions than it answers. The lack of contemporaneous features within the enclosure makes the site difficult to interpret. Ritual or secular, domestic or funerary, the absence or obliteration of any in situ features by the later cut leaves the site’s primary function unconfirmed.
Apart from the axehead fragments and the grinding stones, the lithic evidence consists almost entirely of chert scrapers and associated debitage. This lack of diversity in the finds might suggest a degree of specialisation in tool or leather manufacture.
For the most part the other finds consist of post-medieval debris and would broadly tie in with the subcircular cut, the furrows and the boundary wall. Currently the finds are in the care of specialists, and we await their reports.
Editor’s note: The summary of this excavation, which was carried out during 1999, arrived too late for publication in the bulletin of that year.
Purcell House, Oranmore, Co. Galway
