2005:662 - BALLAHACOMMANE, Kerry

Four hut sites and fourteen cairns were excavated at this site at Ballahacommane, Killarney, as part of a quarry extension. The proposed extension impacts on the western part of a field system. The works were carried out over three weeks in October 2005.

The excavation of hut sites and cairns at Ballahacommane did not reveal any material or artefacts to indicate their date or function. The generally small size and random form of the cairns suggests that they were field clearance cairns. A sherd of modern bottle glass recovered from the body of one of the cairns would suggest a relatively recent date for that particular feature. It would appear therefore that the cairns are the result of field clearance. The presence of lazy beds in the vicinity suggests that the cairns were formed as a result of that particular land clearance. This points to an 18th- or 19th-century date for these features, as the large rural population at the time attempted to reclaim areas of marginal land.

The huts were quite crudely built and do not appear to have been corbelled. No evidence of post-holes or other internal features that might have supported a thatch or sod roof were noted. No artefacts were recovered which could supply a date for the hut sites, and so it is surmised that they may have served as booley huts, or indeed shelter or storage huts.

Hut 1 consisted of a drystone wall, which was circular in plan situated on a broad ledge on a south-facing slope. It was c. 2.1m from north to south internally by 1.9m. The wall was c. 1m wide and survived to a maximum internal height of 0.9m. The entrance was located in the west-south-west and was between 0.35m and 0.5m wide. There were no visible internal features. The floor of the hut consisted of a naturally occurring grey silty sand.

Hut 2 was an uncoursed drystone construction, with the stones measuring 0.2–0.35m on average. A layer of collapsed stone lay above this. The wall had a maximum height of 1.1m internally and was 0.8–0.9m wide on average. It was approximately circular in plan, with internal dimensions of 2.2m from east to west by 1.9m. There was an entrance gap to the west-north-west, which was c. 0.3m wide. The floor of the hut consisted of a naturally occurring grey silty sand.

Hut 3 was an uncoursed drystone structure. It was roughly circular in plan, with an internal diameter of c. 2.3m. The stones measured 0.1–0.6m. The wall had a maximum width of 2m and survived to a maximum height of 0.75m. The entrance was located to the south-west. The floor of the hut consisted of a naturally occurring grey silty sand.

Hut 4 was of roughly coursed drystone construction. It was rectangular in plan, with internal dimensions of 3.35m north–south by 2.2m. The walls were c. 1m wide and had a maximum height of 1.1m on the eastern side. The entrance was located in the south-west corner of the structure. The floor of the hut consisted of a naturally occurring grey silty sand.

Aegis Archaeology Ltd, 16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick