County: Mayo Site name: DOOYORK
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E1140
Author: Mary Cahill, Irish Antiquities Division, National Museum of Ireland
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 473778m, N 820109m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.114532, -9.930581
The discovery of three gold ribbon torcs was reported to the National Museum in late November 2001. The discovery was made accidentally on a beach at Dooyork, Co. Mayo. The area is subject to severe coastal erosion. Owing to the nature of the discovery and the possibility of other objects or structures being present, an emergency excavation of the find-place was undertaken.
On arrival at the site a fragment of a gold ribbon torc, c. 0.1m in length, was noted lying on the sand. About 0.7m south of this point, two interlinked arcs of metal protruding from a shallow pool of seawater were noted. This area was cleared of water and excavated. Two bronze bracelets of thin rod were identified, together with a fragment of a third. The torc fragment was found c. 2.7m south of the site of the original find-place, with the bracelets a further 0.7m to the south.
Following the retrieval of the exposed objects an area 3.7m by 2m was excavated, in the course of which seven small amber beads were found. One was found close to the original find-place while the remainder were found spread across the area up to 0.3m south of the bracelets.
A licensed metal-detector search of the area of the find-place and the immediately surrounding area was also undertaken. A wider area c. 40m by 60m was also searched. No further archaeological objects were found.
It seems that the recovered objects formed a hoard which had been scattered over an area of 3.4m2 by wave action and erosion of the beach.
Kildare Street, Dublin 2
