2005:630 - MACKNEY, Galway

The assessment, including test excavation, was carried out before the construction of the proposed N6 Galway–Ballinasloe road scheme. The proposed scheme will be a dual carriageway, 56km in length, extending from the east side of Galway city at Doughiska to the east side of Ballinasloe, at Beagh Brabazon, in Co. Roscommon. The assessment was undertaken for Galway County Council and the National Roads Authority and forms part of a wider archaeological assessment of c. 15km of the proposed N6 dual carriageway (Contract 4).

The site, an enclosure, is located 5km north-east of Aughrim and 1.5km south-west of Ballinasloe. It measures 58m north–south by 55m. Test excavations undertaken by Martin Jones (Excavations 2004, No. 703, 04E0866) confirmed the presence of a large external ditch and the site is probably best described as a large, denuded ringfort. The assessment revealed the presence of a cultivation level within the interior of the enclosure. A number of archaeological features were revealed below this level, suggesting that internal features associated with the enclosure have survived. In addition, an infant burial was encountered within the enclosure just below the topsoil. Two possible entrance features were also identified and investigated. Two sections were excavated across the line of the enclosing ditch. These sections confirmed the presence of the substantial ditch and also revealed the presence of at least three burials within the ditch fills.

Subsoil varied from a relatively compact orange/brown silty sand sediment to a grey/brown sandy gravel sediment with frequent medium to large stones. Twelve areas were excavated: the exterior of the enclosure, the central area, the north, south, east and west arms of the enclosure, eight sondages, two possible entrances, the north-east and south-east quadrant, the western ditch section and the southern ditch section.

A cultivation layer, lying directly below the sod and topsoil and consisting of the remains of a ridge and furrow pattern running east–west across the interior, was encountered across the majority of the excavated areas. The central 16m2 was cleaned onto the cultivation level, revealing the ridge and furrow pattern. Several large stones were located within the fill of the furrows. These stones may mark the footings or foundations of structures or stone settings that have partly survived the disruption caused by the cultivation. A semicircular hollow that extends into the western baulk of the central area was filled with a layer of broken decayed concrete. It cuts the cultivation pattern and may mark the location of a modern rubbish pit or alternatively a souterrain backfilled with modern debris.

Below this cultivation level a number of features were revealed in the excavated sondages. A linear cut feature in S8 and a square cut in S12 were the most obvious features and a series of possible stone settings was also recorded. The evidence from these and some other excavated sondages indicates that some cut features and early stratified deposits may have survived the intensive cultivation phase and will be exposed when the cultivation soils are fully removed.

The remains of one infant skeleton were noted in the cultivation layer in S9. Fragments of a thin-walled skull and ribcage were recovered. No other burials were noted inside the enclosure and no disarticulated human bone was recovered during the topsoil-stripping and cleaning process. This led the consultant osteoarchaeologist, Denise Keating, to suggest that the enclosure was not used as a formal cemetery but was used for exceptional circumstances such as the burials of unbaptised children or other individuals who were considered to have existed outside of regular society. However, it is possible that further graves are present within the enclosure but have been masked by the cultivation layer.

Two possible entrance features through the north-west and east of the enclosure were investigated. At the north-west, two possible stone settings delimit the entrance through the enclosing bank. To the east, the standard bank material is replaced at the entrance by a compact light-brown fine sand.

The two excavated ditch sections showed evidence of deliberate backfilling and, in the case of the southern ditch, it is possible that the bank was levelled and the material used to fill the upper levels of the ditch. This deliberate levelling of the ditch may correspond with the use of the enclosure for ridge and furrow cultivation. The emergence of Mackney estate at the turn of the 18th century and the proximity of the courtyard and stables to the enclosure may suggest that the cultivation of the enclosure space and the filling of the ditch date to that same time period.

Three burials were recorded in the lower fills of both excavated ditch sections. The one fully excavated example was that of a child. A sheep or pig tooth recovered from below the skull may have been introduced deliberately. There is a possibility that further burials are also present in the base of the western ditch section and disarticulated human bone was recovered from the southern ditch section. The burials appear to be aligned along the line of the ditch. Denise Keating suggested that the deliberate burial of human remains in the ditch of a ringfort is not unusual; however, this is usually interpreted as outlying a more concentrated central burial ground. However, in the case of Mackney ringfort, the central burial ground does not appear to be present.

Ballycurreen Industrial Estate, Kinsale Road, Cork