County: Mayo Site name: BELDERRIG, Belderg More
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0893
Author: Graeme Warren, Department of Archaeology, University College Dublin
Site type: Prehistoric site - lithic scatter
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 499173m, N 841504m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.312313, -9.549520
The site at Belderrig, Co. Mayo, comprises a scatter of worked quartz and other materials sealed beneath peat immediately above the present shore, on west-facing slopes of a sheltered bay. Peat erosion caused by changes in the upslope drainage regime is revealing the site as well as causing damage to it. As well as lithics, observation of the erosive face has led to the recovery of fish bone. Fieldwork in 2004 funded by the Royal Irish Academy aimed at establishing the extent of the scatter in advance of further excavation and included test-pit survey, geophysical survey and topographic modelling.
Preliminary analyses suggest that the main scatter is confined to an area near the cliff edge but that other concentrations exist on the hillside. Interestingly, there are subtle differences in the nature of the lithic assemblage across this small area.
Field interpretations of the stratigraphy suggest that there is potential for in situ preservation of Mesolithic material. A provisional model of site formation suggests the following model for the site. A sequence of slumped soils, probably dating from the Younger Dryas, appears to have stabilised and allowed the development of a mineral soil. This in turn may have seen peat development and this may have been used for activities involving the deposition of fish bone and some classically Late Mesolithic artefacts. The surface itself appears to have been sealed by a major soil/peat slip, itself later sealed by the very degraded peats and windblown sands. These slips, which themselves contain artefacts, are presumably associated with agriculture.
Geophysical survey in conjunction with detailed modelling of the sub-peat topography has revealed a range of anomalies.
Future work is planned for 2005 and will seek to further clarify the nature of the depositional sequence and the spatial extent of the scatters on the hillside.
