County: Kerry Site name: BALLAHACOMMANE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: RMP 67:88 Licence number: 01E0100
Author: Mary G. O’Donnell, Archaeological Services Unit
Site type: Hut site and Cairn
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 502403m, N 590446m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.057373, -9.423190
An existing quarry of 14.57ha at Ballahacommane, Killarney, Co. Kerry, is partially within the zone of archaeological constraint around a field system. Two concentrations of upstanding archaeological sites, consisting of fifteen cairns and four stone enclosures, were revealed during field-walking of a proposed 4.86ha extension to the quarry site. The proposed extension is 5km east of Killarney, in a small valley extending north-west/south-east, on a steep, south-facing slope. A steep ridge rising to c. 100m OD runs parallel to the quarry to the south, and the north-eastern mountain slopes rise to 256m.
Two stone cairns and a stone enclosure were partially excavated during a test excavation of the site in February 2001 to determine whether they were of archaeological significance.
The small enclosure revealed no evidence of date or of domestic occupation. It has an internal diameter of c. 2m and a possible entrance on the western side. A westerly-facing entrance is unusual in that it takes the force of the prevailing wind, and this may indicate that the site was not for use as a permanent habitation site. The upland location may also indicate that the site was seasonally occupied, perhaps as a booley hut for use in conjunction with upland summer grazing.
The cairns are also relatively small, being c. 3m in diameter. At each site they were deliberately set over a pit which was c. 2m in diameter. The pit itself was initially dug out and thereafter filled with stones and soil. The stone cairns were constructed over the pit. As no finds were recovered from the site it is almost impossible to establish a date for the construction of the cairns, but the digging of the pits and the mounding of stones would appear to be part of the same activity.
The discovery of archaeological features during the test excavation indicates that many, or all, of the known sites at Ballahacommane may be of archaeological origin and as a result they were excluded from the quarry development.
Department of Archaeology, University College, Cork
