2014:439 - Ballaghaline, Doolin, Clare

Excavation was undertaken at Ballaghaline, Doolin, Co. Clare between 19 and 30 May 2014 on behalf of Clare County Council in advance of the construction of a new pier and associated facilities under an extension to the original excavation license. The proposed development will have a direct physical impact on CL008A-006 (habitation site/shell midden). The monument was first identified in an eroding soil section face which overlies a karst limestone pavement. A preliminary assessment of the proposed development was undertaken by Moore Marine Services Ltd (Kieran and Hayden, 2010). This initial assessment failed to locate CL008A-006. A subsequent site visit by Christine Grant (DAHG) and Billy Quinn (Moore Group) uncovered a bronze pin in the approximate location of the monument. Further site inspections by Christine Grant, Billy Quinn, Carleton Jones and Danny Bourke noted archaeological material (animal bone, human bone, struck stone and copper/bronze) eroding from the exposed section face. Following consultation with the National Monuments Service a methodology for an initial investigation of the monument was agreed whereby a 10m by 10m area centred on CL008A-006 would be excavated in order to establish the nature and extent of the monument. In addition, it was proposed that a series of 1m by 1m trial holes would be excavated in the vicinity of the monument in order to identify any associated archaeological features, finds or deposits.

The initial archaeological investigation was carried out by Rubicon Heritage Services Ltd on behalf of Clare County Council in February 2012, under a licence issued to James B. O’Hara (2012:076). Excavation within the 10m by 10m area revealed a series of archaeological deposits which contained significant quantities of shells, animal bone and charcoal. Some of the grykes in the limestone bedrock that underlay the main archaeological deposits also contained deposits with inclusions of bone and shell.

Coastal erosion caused by the storms of Spring 2014 revealed significant areas of newly exposed midden to the south-west of the original excavation area, within the development site. Rubicon Heritage Services were appointed to fully excavate the remainder of the midden which included an area measuring 20m by 10m. The most visible of these deposits were contained within an eroded grass-topped mound measuring 7.2m (east-west) by 5.5m and with a maximum depth of 0.5m. Animal bone and occasional shell fragments were visible in these deposits. In addition, a curvilinear deposit of medium to large sized stones along the eastern and southern sides of the mound was interpreted as being a possible structure. Immediately to the north of this area further potential deposits were noted within grykes in the limestone pavement.

Across the southern half of the site the limestone pavement was covered by a uniform deposit of dark brown silty sand. Two lithic artefacts were recovered during the excavation. One of these was a possible flake from stone axe production dating to the Neolithic period, while the other was a small bipolar core of a type typical of the second half of the Neolithic and continued, with further increases in use, into the Bronze Age. Nine small finds were recovered during the excavation, including two conjoining clay tobacco pipe fragments, one glass shard, one pottery sherd, two bone objects and three metal objects, of which one is ferrous and two copper-alloy. These finds indicate that a range of domestic activities occurred at Doolin, with modern material present in the form of a glass bottle and a pearlwear cup, and older finds of indeterminate date present in the form of structural metalwork, a bone pin and a bone point.

The animal bone samples were analysed with a view to better understanding the economy of the site. The assemblage demonstrates an economic system based on the intensive utilisation of land and coastal resources, with farming, fishing, mollusc gathering and bird fowling being practiced.

The extended archaeological investigation at Ballaghaline, Doolin revealed the disarticulated human remains (MNI = 1) of an unsexed adult, comprising of eight human elements. The three human elements (two teeth and a left ulna) recovered during the initial excavation of the site does not indicate a duplication of elements, therefore the MNI for the site remains at one adult. The deposition of human bone within a shell midden may have had a ritual function.

The archaeobotanical or plant macrofossil assemblage analysed was very similar to that recorded from the earlier excavation of the midden. A crop assemblage comprising of barley, oat, wheat and rye was present, which represents arable agriculture, in the form of crop drying. The charcoal recorded at the site contained a variety of woods dominated by oak. Lower occurrences of hazel, willow, ash, blackthorn, yew, pomaceous fruitwoods and birch reflect the mixed woodland that was being exploited nearby. While the majority of these woods were also identified from the midden features, the composition of species is quite different. Two radiocarbon dates were obtained from charred barley grains recovered from deposits (012) and (023). These produced two Early Iron Age dates of cal 755-412 BC (2σ) (SUERC-61188) and cal 803-533 BC (2σ) (SUERC-61189) respectively. In addition to these radiocarbon dates the small assemblage of lithics recovered from the site would suggest that activity was also focused on this area during the Late Neolithic period and into the Early Iron Age. Overall it seems the site was used intermittently over thousands of years but there is a high level of mixing of material probably caused by ongoing activity at the site, tidal action, erosion and modern disturbance from the use of the area for the disposal of building rubble. Non-the-less the evidence revealed the most intensive activity was during the Iron Age, which is slightly earlier than the main period of activity in the portion of the Midden that was excavated in 2012 which seemed to be the result of activity mainly taking place in the medieval period.

Reference

Kieran, E. and Hayden, B., 2010, ‘Preliminary Cultural Heritage Assessment of Harbour Development at Doolin Pier, Co. Clare’, unpublished report by Moore Marine Services.

Rubicon Heritage Services Ltd, Unit 2 Europa Enterprise Park, Midleton, Co. Cork