County: Mayo Site name: CARROWCOR
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E1081
Author: Bernard Guinan
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 522124m, N 823309m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.152870, -9.192180
During the monitoring of topsoil removal as part of the Lough Mask Regional Water Supply Scheme Stage III (No. 918, Excavations 2001, 01E0314), a deposit of burnt stone was noted at the edge of an area of peat in the townland of Carrowcor, Co. Mayo. A spread of burnt stone had already been excavated by the author in Carrowcor (see No. 891, Excavations 2001, 01E0680). The site under discussion will be referred to as Carrowcor II. It was discovered c. 30m east of Carrowcor I. Excavation took place in November and December 2001.
An area 10m (north–south) by 15m was excavated up to the limit of the acquired pipeline way-leave. Excavation showed that the site extended beyond the way-leave acquisition line to the south. The site had been disturbed to varying degrees by a group water scheme, cultivation furrows, land drainage, land reclamation and livestock farming.
Sod and topsoil overlying the site ranged in depth from 0.15m to 0.4m. Beneath the topsoil was a layer of redeposited boulder clay resulting from land reclamation (0.02–0.4m deep). The upper levels of the burnt mound consisted of a mixed layer of grey/dark brown clay with stone inclusions, some of which were heat-fractured. This layer, c. 0.12m deep, was a product of agricultural disturbance affecting the upper level of the burnt spread. The surviving burnt mound (c. 0.09–0.27m deep) consisted of small subangular heat-shattered sandstone fragments (c. 0.05–0.2m in diameter) in a black, charcoal/peat matrix.
This charcoal-rich layer also contained small sedimentary stones which were not heat-fractured. The burnt mound material was disturbed by cultivation furrows, which may explain the presence of unburnt sedimentary stone within the stratum. The burnt stone spread was sitting on a natural deposit of white marl averaging 0.1m in depth. Cultivation furrows also cut through this marl. Beneath the marl occasional pockets of peat were uncovered. All contexts overlay a natural grey boulder clay.
The excavation did not uncover a boiling-pit or trough. However, because the potential area of the site extends beyond the pipeline way-leave, such features may well exist elsewhere.
A very finely polished stone axe, 0.2m long by 0.09m wide, was found. The axe is polished all over, with discernible surface pecking along the lateral sides to facilitate hafting. The petrology of the axe will not be known until the artefact has been subjected to specialist analysis. Excavation also uncovered a small number of struck lithics, mainly of chert but including one piece of struck quartz.
Coosan, Athlone, Co. Westmeath
