County: Kerry Site name: FERMOYLE ISLAND, Fermoyle
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1464
Author: Peter C. Woodman, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: Midden
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 453481m, N 612653m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.246082, -10.145701
A small shell mound was observed in the face of an eroding sea cliff, just over 50m to the west of the limekiln and shell midden noted in the Archaeological survey of the Dingle Peninsula (Cuppage 1986 et al., 15, no. 12). In this locality the cliff has been eroded back 2–3m in the last twenty years, and as a result this small shell mound has been exposed. The mound lay within a palaeosol, which appeared to rest on a wave-cut platform that in places was covered by up to 2m of sand.
Excavation consisted of cleaning the cliff face in the immediate vicinity of the shell mound, recording the section face and excavating back for a distance of c. 0.15m. This showed that the mound of shells was within a shallow artificial depression or pit, c. 0.8m wide and up to 0.12m deep. It was filled exclusively with cockle shells in a dark, charcoal-rich soil. There were a number of burnt stones in the western half of the pit, and the shells in the eastern end were usually unopened. The colour of the base of the shallow pit changed to red. Although some other shells were found on either side of the pit, as were some charcoal flecks, there were no significant traces of activity in the vicinity.
Reference
Cuppage, J. et al. 1986 Archaeological survey of the Dingle Peninsula. Ballyferriter.
