County: Kerry Site name: Crag
Sites and Monuments Record No.: KE048-011 Licence number: 13E0280
Author: Laurence Dunne
Site type: Fulachtaí fiadh and enclosure
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 494785m, N 605765m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.193626, -9.538974
Excavations were undertaken at Crag, Currans, Co. Kerry with regard to a planning application to construct a Centre of Excellence, including several playing pitches. This 19.19ha site encompasses thirteen fields of mixed, neglected pasture and extensive tracts of poor wet marshy ground as well as a disused partially collapsed farm complex. Situated within the site is enclosure site KE048-011, while a number of other recorded monuments including a bivallate ringfort, KE048-014, a standing stone, KE048-015 and an ogham-inscribed boulder, KE048-016, more or less abut the site at its north-east and south-east limits.
Previous testing was undertaken at the site in 2008 (08E0266). In the course of this assessment eight features (F1-F8) were identified. Five of the features comprised fulachtaí fiadh, denuded fulachtaí fiadh or similar hot stone technological features. Two other features, F7 and F8, were identified as clusters of six and three post-holes/stake-holes. However, for clarity sake in the context of this report, the term 'Feature' has been changed to 'Area'. Furthermore, our excavations revealed that Features 1 and 4 were not separate sites but were conjoined into one larger fulacht fiadh. In that context Feature 1 and Feature 4 from the 2008 testing were assigned as Area 1.
This report summarises the results of: (1) Targeted test excavations in vicinity to the two recorded monuments, KE048-011 & KE048-014; (2) Open field test excavations of an additional four acres at the south-east limits of the site and (3) full excavation of the eight areas of archaeology that were recorded during the assessment undertaken in 2008.
This denuded, amorphous enclosure is pervasively covered in furze which hampered close investigation. A total of four 1.4m wide radial test trenches (T1-T4) were opened. No archaeological features were recorded in test trenches T1, T2 or T4. Test trench T3 was radially opened running east-west from the enclosure and extended for 18.8m. Topsoil overlay a mixed gravelly undifferentiated indurated material for 4.8m that was tentatively interpreted as a possible denuded bank. Less indurated material extended south-south-west for a further 8.3m that was also tentatively interpreted as fill. The final 1m of T3 comprised natural yellow clay material. No artefacts were recorded.
This monument is situated immediately outside the north-eastern corner of the site. Three short radial test trenches, T5-T7, were opened in close proximity to the south-west quadrant of this ringfort to determine the presence, if any, of an outer ditch or other extra mural activity within the proposed development site. The three test trenches were 1m wide and had a combined total length of 27.6m and an average depth of 0.25m. No archaeological features or artefacts were noted or recorded.
Fourteen test trenches (T8 to T22), with a combined length of 1660m, were excavated across the south-easternmost limits of the site. This additional area of land had not been tested in 2008. The trenches were opened using a 13-tonne back-acting track machine with a 1m wide flat grading bucket. Topsoil comprised mid to dark brown silty sandy clay with occasional sub-oval cobbles and occasional pebbles and had an average depth of between 0.2m to 0.35m. The topsoil overlay boulder clay. Evidence of natural oxidization was noted in some parts of the subsoil. Apart from several land drains no archaeological features or artefacts were noted in the test trenches T8-to T15.
A fulacht fiadh mound had been recorded in 2008 during field walking and subsequent testing. It was manifest as a grass covered horse-shoe shaped mound and had been assigned as Feature 1. Immediately beside it to the north a slightly raised circular area of burnt mound material had also been identified and assigned as Feature 4. A large sub-rectangular area was opened measuring c. 26m north-south x 15m that established that Features 1 and 4 were in fact one entire fulacht that measured 22m x 13m x 0.4m in depth; this was designated Area 1. A possible trough was recorded. A half section of the fulacht fiadh was undertaken that revealed typical frequent heat-shattered sandstones in a charcoal-enriched black silty sandy clay matrix.
Cleaning and recording of the western half of the mound material revealed a number of features including five very large pits. All were filled with typical burnt mound material.
The location of the trough was identified during the primary cleaning phase. Excavation of its uppermost fill, charcoal-enriched, loose blackish brown silty sandy clay with frequent heat-shattered sandstones, revealed a wooden trough. The trough was rectangular in plan and measured externally 2.2m x 1.35m x 0.5m in depth and contained seven fills. The main fill comprised a soft dark blackish grey fibrous peaty material. This overlay fill (C.107) which consisted of soft dark brown peat with frequent non-heat-shattered medium sized sandstone cobbles that were particularly concentrated near the base. The basal fill lay on the wooden floor of the trough. It consisted of moderately compacted light yellowish/grey clay with frequent small to large non-shattered cobbles.
The surviving components of the trough consisted of a single floor/base, four sideboards comprising two long sides and two shorter gable ends. These side and base boards were secured to three squared hewn oak stakes. The wooden base was remarkably created from a single large un-joined board. It was extremely eroded, soft and spongy and lay within wet sticky boulder clay. Excavation was difficult considering the size of the piece, the suction created by the wet boulder clay on which it lay and the fact that much of the timber had lost its structural integrity and was partially crumbled. In the end, c. 70% of the base board of the trough was recovered.
The four sides of the trough were constructed with single narrow oak boards that survived mostly as fragments. Three fills were recorded and excavated immediately abutting the outside the sideboards. It is likely that these were packing fills deliberately placed to support the sideboards that were most likely originally higher.
Five stake-holes were directly associated with the construction of the trough. Strategically three were situated abutting the outside of the trough while two were positioned on separate inside corners. Of the five stake-holes three contained the pointed basal remains of in situ squared wooden stakes. All the stakes are made of oak that had been hewn to a point with an adze and an axe. The stakes had been driven directly into the boulder clay.
A linear pit extended along the north side of the trough parallel to its long axis and measured 3.4m x 1.34m x 0.4m in depth. It contained five fills and a large natural unhewn wooden fragment. The main fill comprised typical fulacht fiadh material. A long natural piece of wood rested directly on the natural clay subsoil and measured 2.3m long x 0.4m in max. width x 0.08m in thickness. Its precise function is unknown and it does not have any tool marks. Given its eroded and soft spongy nature it is likely that tool marks would not have survived if they existed at all. Its location running beside the trough is interpreted as the eroded remains of a seating-log?
A total of six other stake-holes were revealed in close proximity to the trough.
A small assemblage of artefacts were also recovered including a possible saddle-quern stone fragment and an abraded worked sandstone from the fill of the trough. A sub-rectangular worked sandstone was recovered from pit C.134 and a couple of loose finds were a burnishing stone and a rubbing stone.
A burnt feature/hearth was recorded in this area during testing in 2008. Initial cleaning of Area 2 in the course of the current excavation revealed a spread of burnt clay (C.3) and a linear feature (C.10), possibly an agricultural field drain. Subsequently an area measuring 5.6m x 4.8m and with an average depth of 0.4m was opened up but no additional archaeological features were discovered.
The burnt spread/hearth, C.3 is located in the centre of Area 2. It is sub-oval in plan (orientated north-west/south-east) and measures 1.4m x 0.8m x 0.08m in depth. The spread is comprised of a compacted indurated shallow burnt clay.
Linear feature (C.10) was revealed running along western edge of the opened area. An investigative slot was opened in its mid-section. It was an agricultural drain, 1.3m in width x 0.2m in depth with a single fill of compacted mid-brownish grey silty clay with moderate small to medium randomly deposited sub-angular cobbles.
Initial cleaning revealed typical burnt mound/fulacht fiadh material designated as C.31. Subsequently an area measuring 16m x 12m with a maximum depth of 0.4m was opened. Cleaning revealed that site comprised a low fulacht mound, sub-oval in plan, measuring 8m x 6.5m x 0.25m in depth. The mound comprised frequent heat-shattered stones in a charcoal-enriched black silty matrix. Subsequent to half-sectioning and removal of C.31, three sub-oval pits were revealed around the centre of the mound and a single sub-rectangular pit (C.136) was also revealed at the south-west limits of the area. The three pits were of similar scale and morphology and contained similar fills of essentially fulacht material. Two artefacts were recovered from pit C.136 comprising a wooden peg fragment and a possible thumbnail scraper.
Primary opening of Area 5 revealed typical fulacht fiadh material. Subsequently the area was expanded to 12m x 11.5m to establish its full extent. Cleaning revealed a low mound, 0.3m in average depth that had originally been sub-oval. The mound material comprised loose blackish brown silty sandy clay with frequent heat-shattered stones and frequent charcoal flecks.
A burnt feature had been revealed during previous testing in 2008. Cleaning in the course of this excavation of an area measuring 7.7m x 7m revealed a second burnt feature (C.24), three stake-holes, a small pit (C.23), and a furrow.
The original burnt feature or hearth (C.15) was sub-circular in plan and measured 0.64m in diameter x 0.16m in depth and contained two fills. The second hearth feature (C.24) was situated approx. 3m to the east of C.15. It was tear-drop shaped in plan and measured 1.3m x 0.68m x 0.1m in depth and had four fills. Three stake-holes were found along the eastern edge within the hearth C.24. A sub-oval pit (C.23) was situated in the north-eastern corner of Area 6.
A series of six post-holes and possible stake-holes were found during testing undertaken in 2008. However, the site had been only partially backfilled and had consequently developed into a pond. In the course of the these excavations an area measuring 14m x 9m and with an average depth of 0.3m was opened revealing a complex of post- and stake-holes.
Seven post-holes were excavated that form a coherent D-shape. Ten associated stake-holes were also excavated. Nine of the stake-holes were disposed along the long axis of the D-structure. The stake-holes are circular and sub-circular in plan and ranged in diameter from 0.06m to 0.1m and from 0.06m to 0.21m. Six of the post-holes were sub-circular in plan while the seventh was sub-oval. For brevity sake only one post-hole, C.73, is described here. The post-hole measured 0.4m x 0.33m and contained three fills. The primary fill (C.74), comprised dark brown moderate silty sandy clay with occasional flecks of charcoal, occasional small to medium sub-angular cobbles and a few small burnt stones and one medium quartz fragment. The secondary fill comprised mixed dark to reddish brown silty un-compacted sand and moderate small to medium sub-angular and flat cobbles and patches of burnt clay. A flat stone is most likely a packing stone. The tertiary context comprised dark yellow soft sandy silt with infrequent medium sub-angular cobbles. Post-hole C.73 had a sharp break of slope to top and near vertical sides and gradual break of slope to a flat even base. A possible saddle quern fragment was recovered from fill C.74.
A series of three post-holes and possible stake-holes were found here during testing in 2008. In the course of this excavation an area measuring 8.5m x 7m and an average depth of 0.4m was opened. Cleaning of Area 8 revealed a total of six post-holes, and two stake-holes. Four of the post-holes were loosely disposed in a trapezoidal pattern. No artefacts were recovered in Area 8.
Extra-mural targeted test trenching was undertaken at enclosure KE048-011 and ringfort KE048-014. The results at the enclosure were for the most part archaeologically benign. It is tentatively determined that part of a section of a reduced enclosing bank was uncovered in T3. Certainly no external ditch was found which leads one to tentatively suggest that the enclosure may possibly be a barrow. A ring-barrow, KE048-013, is situated nearby in the adjoining townland.
Targeted testing in the north-east corner of the site in the vicinity of ringfort KE048-014 revealed no sub-surface mural or extra-mural activity associated with the monument.
Widespread linear testing was undertaken across the southern limits of the site that had not been subjected to testing in 2008. No archaeological features were discovered.
The preliminary results of the excavations of the eight features recorded in 2008 in Areas 1-8 revealed several additional features which were fully excavated. The dominant site type comprised three fulachtaí fiadh that had survived in various states of preservation, the largest occurring in Area 1. Here underneath a very large mound, 22m x 13m of heat-shattered material, a fine rectangular wooden trough was discovered alongside a series of massive pits. Two much smaller trough-less fulachtaí fiadh were excavated in Areas 3 and 5 as well as several associated cut features. Three hearths were also excavated, two in Area 6 and one in Area 2 and while they cannot with certainty be associated with the excavated fulachtaí fiadh it seems likely that they were. In any event eight large features excavated at Crag are directly associated to burning events associated with prehistoric hot-stone technology most likely from the Bronze Age. Excavations by the writer in nearby Garraundarragh of two fulachtaí fiadh returned a Late Bronze Age radiocarbon date of Cal BC 1000-790 (Dunne 2004).
The possible D-shaped structure identified in Area 7 is similar to another example excavated in Ballyoughtragh North, Milltown in 2011 that also had seven post-holes and was of similar size. The example from Ballyoughtragh was tentatively associated with nearby fulacht activity as well as a possible Bronze Age round house (Bartlett and Dunne 2011).
Dunne, L. 2004. Excavations at Garraundarragh in advance of roadworks associated with the construction of a new section of the N22.Unpublished Report Eachtra Archaeological Projects.
Dunne, L. and Bartlett, T. 2011. Interim Archaeological Excavation Report, Ballyoughtragh North, Milltown, Co. Kerry. Unpublished report, Laurence Dunne Archaeology.
Laurence Dunne Archaeology, 3, Lios Na Lohart, Ballyvelly, Tralee, Co. Kerry.
