County: Donegal Site name: BALLYMONEY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0840
Author: Peter Woodman, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork, and Nicky Milner, University of Newcastle
Site type: Midden
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 630845m, N 920186m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 55.028264, -7.517571
At this site an intermittent layer of shells had been noted to be eroding on the cliff face. This layer was usually 0.2–0.4m thick and extended for approximately 80m in length. Shells were also observed on the surface of the field to the south of the cliff-face exposure, about 140m south of the beginning of the midden. Test-pits were placed in the field to establish the extent of the midden.
At Point (0) on the main baseline it was established that the midden did not exist but that there was a layer of dark soil present.
At 28.5m three test-pits running in from the cliff edge showed that the midden extended for some 10m from the cliff edge but, while the dark soil could be found further away from the cliff edge, the midden itself did not extend as far as 15m from the cliff face.
At 100m and 130m to the south test-pits revealed further evidence of the presence of midden, while no evidence was found at 150m.
