County: Cork Site name: Badger Cave, Blarney
Sites and Monuments Record No.: CO062–177 Licence number: 07E0672
Author: Marion Dowd, Applied Archaeology, School of Science, Institute of Technology, Sligo.
Site type: Flint flake
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 560936m, N 575812m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.933056, -8.568056
Badger Cave is located outside and to the west-north-west of the bawn wall of Blarney Castle. It consists of one main passage (35m long) with two short connecting fissures (7m and 13m long respectively) extending from the south-eastern wall. The developer wanted to enable visitor access to the cave, which required the excavation of a pathway, 23m long by 1m wide by 0.8m deep, through the main cave passage. Due to the proximity of the cave to Blarney Castle, the work was monitored. Approximately 50% of all excavated deposits were wet-sieved through 3mm sieves outside the cave. Over 340 animal bones were recovered, but specialist analysis indicated they were natural occurrences and of relatively recent origin. The only find of archaeological significance was the proximal end of a flint flake, which has been identified as probably Neolithic in date.
