2017:206 - Ballaghaline, Clare

The excavation of the eroding clay layer at the storm beach in Ballaghaline, Co. Clare continued in 2017 (see 2015:143). The three trenches excavated in 2015 revealed evidence of the manufacture of shale axes and other tools which were similar to the material found by M. Knowles in 1899. In 2016 a radiocarbon date from an early context in Trench 1 showed that this activity took place in the Later Mesolithic period. The excavation and monitoring licence was extended in 2017 and the continued monitoring revealed a new area of clay, to the east of the trenches excavated in 2015, where axe roughouts, flakes and hammerstones were eroding. This led to the excavation of Trench 4 which was carried out in March, April, September and December 2017.

In the western end of the trench dispersed flakes and roughouts were recovered along with a significant amount of pumice. The central and eastern parts of the trench had concentrations of flakes, roughouts and approximately 30 hammerstones. This was an area of intense knapping which certainly included shale axe manufacture. These deposits of flakes etc. in the clay layer continue to the north and east of the trench beneath the storm beach. Due to weather and tide conditions it was not possible to retrieve all the material from this area.

A second radiocarbon date from Trench 1 was obtained in 2017. This was from a stratigraphically later context than that dated in 2016. This date shows that the axe manufacturing in that part of the site continued to the end of the Later Mesolithic period and possibly into the Early Neolithic.

A much earlier date than those from Trench 1 was obtained from a charcoal sample from Trench 4. Additional samples will need to be dated to corroborate this early date.

The 2017 excavation of Trench 4 has confirmed that the manufacture of shale axes has taken place over a large area of the site and that significant quantities of archaeological material still remain in the clay layer beneath the storm beach. This clay is constantly eroding and the extension of the licence into 2018 will allow the continued retrieval of this material. The dates obtained so far demonstrate that in Trench 1 at least two episodes of axe manufacture were carried out during the last 500 years of the Later Mesolithic period. Additional samples from Trench 4 will need to be dated to confirm how much earlier the activity in this part of the site took place.

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to the landowner, Mr. Cyril Nagle, for his permission to access and excavate the site and to the Burrenbeo Trust Conservation Volunteers for their essential contribution. Thanks are also due to the RIA for providing funding for the three RC dates mentioned above and to the NMS and NMI for the extensions of the licence for the excavation, monitoring and collection of surface finds on the site.

References:

Knowles, M. 1901. Kitchen Middens – Co. Clare. Journal of the Limerick Field Club 2, 35-42. Lynch, M. 2017. The Later Mesolithic on the North-West Coast of Clare. Archaeology Ireland Vol. 31. No. 4.

Leana, Killinaboy, Co. Clare.