2005:673 - CAHERQUIN, Kerry

The excavation of a series of stone-built structures (including a possible church) and burial ground eroding from the dune face into the sea at the southern limits of Smerwick Harbour, on the north-western end of the Dingle Peninsula, was carried out on behalf of the National Monuments Service of the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government (DoEHLG) under an extension to a previous licence relating to the site at Caherquin. The excavations were undertaken in advance of a series of preservation works being carried out at the site by the DoEHLG in association with the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.

Over the years there have been frequent reports, findings, collecting and rescue of eroded skeletal remains at the site. In 1996 small-scale excavations were undertaken on behalf of the National Monuments Service by Isabel Bennett (96E0302). Two radiocarbon dates were obtained from the site, one from charred grain from an occupational layer and the other from a human skeleton, indicating a dating period extending from the mid-15th to the early 17th century (Bennett 1996).

At Caherquin the archaeology has been manifest as eroding coherent sections of masonry and skeletons in a high dune face to a height of 5m. The site extends along the beach for over 200m and is being constantly washed away by the tide and other elemental factors as well as visitor stress. Beneath the dunes is an extensive bog that is also regularly visible, especially at low tide or after a storm.

In an effort to preserve and protect the site, the National Monuments Service in association with the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources put in place rock armour all along the base of the site. Apart from protecting the site from the sea, the rock armour created a base from which the eroded site could be re-covered with sand and also formed a safe platform from which the archaeological work could be undertaken.

Several focused archaeological issues and objectives were agreed with the National Monuments Service in advance to maximise results and minimise negative impacts by the excavations on the dune face. Two areas, A and B, were selected, cleaned and recorded. No excavation or cleaning was done in any area where the marram grass had rejuvenated itself.

Area A measured 30.8m in length (north-west/south-east) and comprised five wall structures, twenty archaeological layers and deposits, a pot-boiler and thirteen inhumation burials.

The thirteen burials included five adults and eight children, including three neonates. Two of the adults were identified as female, while the sex of the other three could not be ascertained as they were only partially revealed. With the exception of one burial (B.1), all of the inhumations were sealed by an old topsoil layer, which in turn was directly overlaid by a rich organic cultural layer, and were interred within the sterile natural sand dune matrix. Five of the burials were fully exposed, while the remaining eight were only partially revealed and recorded in section. The supine burials had been interred in a formalised Christian manner in a general east–west orientation. However, of interest are the neonates, B.5 and B.6, both of which were interred together but laid out in differing positions. The flexed position of B.5 beside the extended supine position of B.6 may indicate different gender and also family relationship.

All of the human remains exposed showed a remarkable state of preservation and were quite clean in appearance. Two of the burials, B.4 and B.12 (both adult females), were fully excavated and removed for specialist analysis and dating, while the remainder were preserved in situ subsequent to full recording and examination by an osteoarchaeologist. Of particular interest is the adult female burial B.12, whose remains clearly showed that she had died while pregnant, most likely due to the presence of a hydatid cyst that was evident on the lower ribs/abdomen area.

Only one burial (B.1) showed evidence of a grave cut and associated fill. Six of the skeletons were interred with beach-derived cobbles at each side of the skull, used as ‘ear-muff’ stones to hold the skull in an upright position. One of these burials, B.2, also contained a ‘collar stone’, and two others (B.7 and B.11) had ear-muff and pillow stones. Of particular interest was burial B.3. On initial discovery it was thought that a lintelled grave had been located. However, excavation revealed that the stone setting comprised a formalised grave marker with a quantity of rounded quartz pebbles scattered within, while the skeleton itself was revealed a further 0.6m beneath. This burial tradition utilising a formalised stone setting and white quartz pebbles is evident in several graveyards in West Kerry and indeed throughout the country today.

The walls recorded in Area A (the majority of which represent boundary features) were of drystone construction using locally derived unmodified beach cobbles. The exception is a section of walling, C.34, possibly from a church, located 0.82m below the present ground surface. This is a well-constructed building running in an east–west direction for 3.5m and was 1.7m high and 1.2m wide. It was constructed with modified and chipped beach-derived sandstones laid in a clayey mud bonding matrix. The northern exposed face of C.34 also contained some fair-faced red sandstones laid in irregular but coherent courses. The exposed wall section comprised the surviving lower and basal courses only. Quantities of small angular chippings of sandstone, a result of dressing the exterior north face and modifying the stone, as well as small lumps of the binding agent were located at the base. The church was constructed on a foundation/consolidation layer of large flat slabs that had first been laid in the sand. Extreme caution was exercised in dealing with the fragile masonry, as it was actively collapsing out of the dune face. The ragged exposed collapsed eastern end of the church revealed an internal fabric construction of smaller rubble stones and mud. Cleaning the uppermost remains of the church wall, in order to establish possible stratigraphic relationships between the layers surrounding it, exposed a return to the south representing the north-west corner of the building. Approximately 0.65m of the west wall of the structure was revealed before it extended beyond the limit of excavation into the dune face.

Area B comprised a section of dune face c. 100m south-east of Area A that measured 11.6m in length by 4.25m in maximum depth. It consisted of a single wall similar in construction to the other boundary walls in Area A. Four archaeological layers were also recorded.

The results clearly show that the church and burial ground were abandoned for some unknown reason. The later reuse of the site in a profane settlement context indicates that the tradition and sacredness of the site had long been forgotten. This is evidenced by the rich organic layer (C.16) and by the pot-boiler (C.24). The recoded vertical startigraphy created difficulties in understanding and interpretation, but it is anticipated that the forthcoming radiocarbon dates should help to resolve the occupation sequence.

Of the boundary walls recorded in Area A, C.33 is located extremely high in the dune face and clearly represents a 19th-century field boundary; several other examples are evident eroding into the sea all along Smerwick Harbour. The wall feature C.37 was also clearly later in the sequence, as it was constructed within and above the cultural layers related to the burial ground. However, C.36 (Area A) and C.38 (Area B) were found lower in the sequence and may reflect boundary or enclosing features associated with the church and burial ground itself.

Ultimately, it would appear that the recorded site of Teampeall Bán, located 200m to the south-west, has been wrongly mapped and the correct location is the current excavated site at the dune face at Caherquin.

Only a small assemblage of finds was recovered, all from Area A. A number of stray finds were retrieved from the tumbled stone and eroded sand that accumulated along the base of the site. The finds included: a fragment from the top section of a sandstone rotary quern, a sandstone net sinker, a possibly used quartz crystal, a single piece of metal slag and an amorphous metal object. A small quantity of animal bone and disarticulated human bone was also recovered. Securely stratified finds came from four contexts in Area A. These included a very fine greenstone pestle, a single piece of metal slag, an amorphous metal object, a sandstone and a greenstone net sinker, a sandstone rubbing stone and fragments of a possible ringed pin.

Post-excavation analysis is ongoing.

Reference
Bennett, I. 1996 Archaeological investigations at Caherquin, near Ballyferriter, Co. Kerry. JKAHS 29, 5–30.

3 Lios na Lohart, Ballyvelly, Tralee, Co. Kerry