2009:093 - FANORE MORE, Clare

A rescue excavation was carried out at a recently recorded shell midden (CL001–019) in Fanore More, Co. Clare, during September and early October 2009. The site is situated on the south side of a small west–north-west-facing beach at Trawvealacalaha, c. 0.5km south of the main beach at Fanore.
The shell midden was discovered in October 2008 when a c. 7m-long band of compacted seashells and some burnt/shattered stone became exposed by high tides during stormy weather. The rescue excavation was carried out so that as much information as possible could be retrieved before the midden material was lost through further erosion. The aim of the excavation was to obtain radiocarbon dates from organic material and provide information on the morphology and extent of the midden.
Two trenches were excavated. Trench 1 (3m by 1.5m) was positioned in an area where the shells were most visible. The maximum depth of shell in Trench 1 was c. 130mm. Shells in the uppermost layer were compacted and fused together and were removed in blocks. Those in the lower layers were looser and more easily excavated.
Preliminary results show that the midden is primarily made up of periwinkle, dog whelk and limpet. Although generally mixed, discrete deposits of shells with preferences for a particular type were ascertained. The excavation showed that the midden had extended for at least another metre to the north from the present eroded edge, thus indicating the minimum amount of erosion which had taken place on the north side.
The shell levels in the southern baulk of the trench show that the midden certainly extends in this direction under the sand, grasses, stones and boulders of the storm beach for an indeterminable distance, but probably for several metres. Shell samples from secure contexts were obtained for radiocarbon-dating.
Trench 2 (1.5m by 0.6m) was located c. 2m to the west of Trench 1 in an area where quantities of burnt/shattered stone and darker soil but little shell were visible.
Beneath deposits of sand and stone a black organic layer covered a deposit of burnt and shattered stone. A stone axe was found in this secure context along with some chert flakes and debitage. Shell and charcoal samples were secured from the various contexts for radiocarbon-dating.
Post-excavation analysis will include a specialist report on the lithics and this, along with the radiocarbon dates from the shell and charcoal samples, should confirm how the shell midden relates to the prehistoric activities suggested by the stone axe.