2016:527 - Dún Ailinne, Kildare

A four-week excavation was carried out at Dún Ailinne, Co. Kildare, during June 2016 in the context of an archaeological field school. Students and staff came predominantly from George Washington University, New York University, and the Irish Archaeology Field School. The goal was to explore three areas identified through a geophysical survey (2006-2008) as being of archaeological interest for understanding the Iron Age use of the site.

The first was what appeared to be the entrance to an enclosure that ringed the summit of Knockaulin Hill and that was integrated with the Rose Phase timber structure identified in earlier excavations. In this area, we wanted to locate and characterize this enclosure and determine whether this was in fact an entrance into it. To answer this question we excavated six test units, most of them 2m x 1m2. Together, these showed that the enclosure, typically encountered between 0.25-0.4m below the surface, was composed of burned material including burned bone and soil and fragments of charcoal and burned wood. Some of the burned wood fragments were large enough that they arguably represent the remains of burned posts, though the specific relationship between these and the original structure of the enclosure is uncertain. We were also able to demonstrate that there is a gap in this feature, supporting the magnetometer image interpretation that this was the entrance to the enclosure.

Second, the magnetometer image of the summit enclosure appeared to show a gap in the north-west part of the circumference. We wanted to see if this gap was real or whether it was the result of insufficient magnetic material in the soil. After excavating three test units, each 2m x 2m2, down to more than 0.4m below the surface and encountering no evidence of archaeological features, we are confident that the enclosure did not extend into this area; it is in fact a gap. Whether this was intentional or simply means that the enclosure was unfinished is uncertain, but the fact that this opening faces the plain of the Curragh with its numerous monuments (some probably earlier but others certainly contemporary) may suggest a function for this gap.

Finally, we wanted to explore a feature in the northern part of the site’s interior called St John’s Well. This is a depression that appeared to have been artificially enlarged, and holds water after prolonged rain. The apparent gap in the summit enclosure was aligned with this feature, suggesting the possibility that it was accessed during the Iron Age use of the Rose Phase structure. Documentary sources suggested that this feature had been used as a holy well, at least in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Our excavation of the well showed that it was a natural depression that had been filled in during some point in its history, probably relatively recently. A 2m x 2m2 test unit in its center showed that it contained essentially a single layer of sediment which produced a handful of objects ranging from a flint core to a plastic strip. No evidence of its use during the Iron Age or as a holy well was recovered; however, its existence as a natural feature means that it could have been used during either period, though such use obviously left no surviving evidence.

Most of the material recovered was from the entrance area and consisted of animal bone, much of it burned. Of these, about 90% were unidentifiable; the rest was identified as domestic cattle and pig as well as two fragments of horse bone and one of sheep. Apart from this, cultural objects were relatively rare. These included a few fragments of iron, including one with copper or copper alloy rivets (a possible strap end); several small flint implements as well as a few flakes (both flint and chert); two small, eroded ceramic fragments; and a stone found face down on the surface of St John’s Well with two parallel grooves possibly representing the remains of an ogham letter (or letters). All material, including the stone and some burned wood samples, was deposited at the National Museum.

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