2021:171 - Disert Graveyard, Donegal, Donegal

Features and place name evidence suggest Disert may have its origins in the early medieval period or earlier. Local tradition is that this was a Columban foundation and various cures and miracles are associated with the site. Disert lies directly under Carnaween Mountain, another pilgrimage site, which has deep folkloric traditions around Fionn MacCumhaill. It continues to be culturally important, with a post-medieval pilgrimage that survives to this day. The overall aim of the excavation project is to investigate the nature and origin of the archaeological remains at Disert and to place them in their wider cultural and landscape context. 2021 was the second season of excavation and focused on key features identified during the first season in 2019 as well as excavation of a cairn adjacent to the holy well. In 2019 and 2021, evidence for activity was uncovered on the site ranging from the prehistoric period through to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Work continued in Trench 1 in 2021 and Trench 3 was opened to examine the western cairn at the holy well. It is hoped to continue excavation in 2022.

Trench 1
From Trench 1 it has become clear that the central enclosure of the site, defined by the graveyard and the now-unbounded area to the immediate south of the graveyard sits on a drumlin, with a core of natural soil and stones of varying size. The south-west extent of this central enclosure, exposed in Area A, appears to have been revetted using densely packed field stones to bound the central enclosure. This would have prevented slippage of the enclosure and would also have formed a distinctive and attractive feature if left exposed after construction. This has been termed the Upper Revetment, and small portions of it are becoming visible in the uphill, north-east extent of Area H.

Below the Upper Revetment, in Area B and extending into Area H, was a flat region extending in a north-west direction. Excavation of this has yielded evidence that this is an infilled enclosure ditch, following the line of the potential ditch identified using geophysics. The full depth of the ditch has not yet been determined, since the upper regions of the ditch appear to have used for in-situ craftworking. There is evidence for a number of hearths and dense deposits of charcoal, as well as a number of fragments of some form of slag and a piece of half-melted glass. In 2019, C68=C1068 was identified as a possible bank of yellowish stony material or possibly a natural deposit. Results from 2021 suggest that it forms the downhill edge of the ditch and is a Lower Revetment formed from redeposited natural and additional field stones.

Overall, the results from Trench 1 have added greatly to our knowledge of the construction of the central enclosure and have resulted in the identification of the ditch of the large outer enclosure. Furthermore, the substantial quantities of charcoal recovered mean that it should be possible to date the use of the site for craftworking at some later period after the initial construction of the ditch.

Trench 3
In Trench 3, the excavation of cairn DG084-001010 revealed unexpected results. There were at least six phases identified. The earliest phase identified so far is pre-cairn, with evidence for a possible metalled surface under the West Cairn. Two separate cairns were then constructed, using different construction methods.

The West Cairn was originally built as a flat-topped platform on a level surface of subsoil. Due to the lie of the land, which slopes downhill from north to south, it was formed from a ring or wall of stones, C3058, which consisted of a single layer of stones at the north extent, increasing in height on the downhill, south side. The interior of this feature was filled with soil containing some stone. This soil could potentially have been obtained from groundworks to prepare the subsoil, however there is no evidence to positively support this conjecture.

The East Cairn appears to be formed around a sub-rectangular central chamber, defined by stones C3090 and filled with loose stone. Around these were a series of overlying, concentric stone deposits forming a dry-stone wall, including, notably, C3066. Again, the height of these on the uphill, north side was less than on the downhill, south side, so that again these appear to have originally formed a flat-topped feature.

At some point a decision was made to join the East Cairn and West Cairn with a series of deposits including the extremely large stones C3057. However, having done this, further deposits were then added in the west and east regions so that two cairns were again built up. Finally, another layer of large stones, C3012, was laid on top, in the region between the two peaks, and above this, the cairn finally took on its pre-excavation form, with a single peak. The uppermost and outermost limits of the combined cairn, plus the upper portions of the East Cairn and West Cairn, were formed from small stones of c.0.05m to 0.1m in size. In local tradition, these were added to the cairn as part of the turas or pilgrimage, with pilgrims placing a stone on top of the various cairns around the site when they said prayers at each station. With few exceptions, deposits of this size of stone do not appear in the lower portions of the monument, stratigraphically below the very large stones C3057, suggesting that this tradition post-dates the deposition of these, when a first attempt was made to combine the two cairns into one.

No firm dating is yet possible for the cairn features. There are some charcoal samples that may be suitable for radiocarbon dating. The majority of artefacts from the cairns themselves are of nineteenth- to twenty-first-century origin. A few artefacts such as hammer stones and hone stones are difficult to date on stylistic grounds. Some of the large stones C3057 and C3012 have quarrying marks and it will be necessary to engage a suitable specialist to examine these.

CERIS, School of Science, ITSligo