2019:406 - Rathcoran, Wicklow

The 2019 excavations were the third season of investigations at the site which have been funded by the Royal Irish Academy. This year, additional support was provided by Wicklow County Council.

The central aim of the 2019 excavations was to establish the construction date of the outer rampart and confirm whether it is of a single phased formation or multi-period, containing an earlier palisade similar to the internal enclosure. An 11m (north-west/south-east) by 2.5m trench was excavated across the outer enclosure on its north-western side and specifically targeted the location of an infilled ditch.

Trench 3
Excavation confirmed that the outer enclosing element comprised a carefully constructed stone bank and ditch arrangement. There was no evidence of a pre-bank palisade, suggesting the enclosure was constructed in one phase, unlike the inner rampart. The basal bank material comprised dumped material of subsoil, broken stone and earthen sods (0.37m thick) excavated from the digging of an external ditch. This was deposited directly on an original old ground surface that survived intact under the stone bank. This dumped subsoil was retained by a stone facing abutting the edge of the ditch, while a number of larger stones, placed directly on the only ground surface, retained the soil bank on the inside. The entire soil component of the bank was overlain by a deposit of larger stone that appeared to be quarried material from another location. Additional soil appears to have been added to this bank from intermittent cleaning out of the ditch, while larger sub-rounded stones found collapsed externally may represent a remodelling of the bank at a later stage. A shallow depression on the south-eastern side of bank containing a grey charcoal-flecked silt with a number of artefacts such as a broken polished stone axe and retouched lithics of Neolithic date. No dating material was recovered from the bank, although some charcoal was retained from the pre-bank ground surface.

The ditch was cut into the underlying bedrock of vertically set shale that was loosely compacted. The excavated section appeared to represent a ditch terminal that was approx. 1.85-2m wide with a maximum central depth of 1.04m. The ditch was filled with a number of naturally accumulated silts along with material that is interpreted as backfilled subsoil from a possible small external counterscarp bank. A charcoal sample from the base of the ditch is dated to the Early Neolithic period.

Trench 4
Trench 4 was positioned over one of the internal terraced platforms on the south-east side of the hilltop enclosure. These have been interpreted as potential hut-sites of prehistoric date.

The excavation trench measured 3m (north-west/south-east) by 3m, with a 3m by 1m extension cutting across the bank on the north side and a 4m by 1m extension downslope across the east side. Prior to excavation, this unrecorded potential hut site was evident on the ground as an overgrown circular peat-filled depression defined by a circular arrangement of medium to large granite boulders.

Removal of the peaty horizon at the centre of the platform, between the outer line of stones, exposed a surface of heavily compacted small to medium sized sub-rounded stones, with some larger examples embedded into the underlying surface. This stony surface appeared to be bordered by a number of large granite stones that were exposed within the excavation trench in both of the 1m wide extensions. These stones did not appear to represent walls of a potential hut site. No structural component was evident and no coursing was recorded. Instead, the outer ‘walls’ comprised a single line of large irregular granite boulders that lay directly on the stony surface.

Subsequent removal of this surface revealed a c. 0.3m thick layer of iron oxidised re-deposited subsoil that extended across the entire trench. A number of lithic finds were recovered from this surface, including several re-touched examples. This deposit contained medium to large rounded stones and appeared to have been extracted from the digging of two pits exposed within the trench. These elongated pits were stone-lined and filled with numerous silts and small stones. The larger of the two pits was exposed within the trench for a length of approx. 4.48m and had a maximum depth of 0.88m. A large square slab was recorded within the pit to the east and is interpreted as either a deliberate internal partition to the pit or a collapsed roofing slab. The latter is more likely in this case due to its position within the pit and the recovery of similar examples elsewhere along the line of the feature. Along with the recovery of minimal lump charcoal from the base of the pit, a single sherd of prehistoric pottery was also recovered. No other finds were found from the pits. The charcoal from the pit is dated to the Middle Neolithic period.

While the stone-lined features were retained within the outer arrangement of larger boulders, the true purpose of the site and activities for which the pits were associated remains unclear at this stage. What is almost certain however, is the site cannot be interpreted as a hut structure. The outer line of boulders could not have functioned as external walls and no internal roof supports were identified. In addition, internal occupation floors were absent, along with any indication of a central hearth. Indeed, no in situ burnt deposits were found anywhere within the excavation trench.

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