2021:189 - Gurteen North 3, Kerry

Stage (iii) Excavation was carried out between 22 October 2020 and 08 January 2021, and again between 06 April and 23 April 2021, at the site of Gurteen North 3 in advance of construction of the N86 Ballynasare Lower to Annascaul and Doonore North to Ballygarret Road Improvement Scheme, Co. Kerry. The hiatus in the excavation was owing to work restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The work was carried out under Ministerial Direction Number A070 and Registration Numbers E005265 (Excavation) and R00545 (Metal Detection), on behalf of Kerry County Council. The site was discovered in the eastern area of the Ballynasare Lower to Annascaul section of the scheme in the townland of Gurteen North during advance Stage (i) Test Excavations undertaken in 2020 by AMS.
Gurteen North 3 comprised three distinct areas of archaeological remains across the site: Areas 1−3. Within these areas four phases of activity have been identified at a preliminary stage, in the absence of absolute dating: Phase 1 – prehistoric activity comprising a Bronze Age roundhouse and associated features, and two other clusters of features comprising pits, post-holes, stake-holes and hearths; Phase 2 - early medieval activity consisting of a linear field system ditch and a charcoal-production pit and hearth; Phase 3 - late medieval activity comprising a cereal-drying kiln; and Phase 4 - post-medieval/modern agricultural activity comprising a field boundary ditch, furrows and field management consolidation layer.
Area 1 contained three phases of activity. Phase 1 comprised a cluster of features in the north of Area 1 that consisted of seven pits, two post-holes, four stake-holes and a single hearth, and a single pit in the south. No identifiable structure was apparent regarding the post-holes. The stake-holes may have formed a drying rack, or similar. Phase 2 consisted of a possible early medieval field system ditch in two sections, with a gap measuring 0.7m in the north-east. The overall length of this segmented ditch was 39.4m. It had a maximum width of 1.23m, a maximum depth of 0.66m, and was v-shaped in profile with two fills in one section and three in the other. Phase 4 comprised a field boundary ditch, which cut the Phase 2 ditch, and a small number of furrows.
Artefacts recovered from Area 1 included: a saddle quern, four saddle quern fragments, a possible rubbing stone, a chert flake and nineteen prehistoric pottery sherds and crumbs from Phase 1 pits; and a rotary quernstone fragment from a section of the segmented Phase 2 linear ditch.
Area 2 contained all four phases of activity. The Phase 1 archaeology in Area 2 was dominated by a Bronze Age roundhouse and associated features, with a small number of external features consisting of two pits. The roundhouse was an elliptical post-built structure consisting of eleven post-holes, measuring 8.1m by 5.6m, with an entrance in the north-north-east measuring 2.2m. The entrance was paved with a stone surface which incorporated a raised stone threshold, beneath which there was a pit. In the internal area of the structure there was a charcoal-rich occupational layer overlying a stone-lined hearth and pit, and a second pit to the immediate south of the hearth. To the immediate west of these features there was a possible screen represented by an arrangement of seven stake-holes. Other internal features comprised four pits and three post-holes. The internal post-holes did not act as roof supports, and neither can they be seen to form any structural pattern such as an internal division. External features included seven pits, three drip gullies and a single post-hole. The structure was positioned on a moderate south-east-facing slope, and the ground there was made level prior to construction by reducing a portion of the slope to accommodate the roundhouse. Overlying a large portion of the roundhouse there was a Phase 4 post-medieval/modern layer of stone, sealing an old topsoil, deposited in a land management context for the purpose of in-filling the hollow formed by the construction of the roundhouse. Two clay pipe stems and a sherd of post-medieval pottery were recovered from the Phase 4 layer.
Artefacts recovered from the excavation of the Phase 1 roundhouse included: nine prehistoric pottery sherds and a crumb; three saddle querns and a saddle quern fragment; three rubbing stones and two rubbing stone fragments; a stone axehead; a grinder-pounder; a possible thatch weight; a greenstone flake and two sandstone flakes; and a worked stone object and a notched stone object. Most noteworthy were the metal finds from the roundhouse. Two conjoining fragments of the blade of a bronze sword were recovered from an external pit, while a complete hollow bronze ring was recovered from one of the structural post-holes. A pit, located approximately 2.5m from the entrance to the roundhouse, was the find location of an almost complete Late Bronze Age leaf-shaped bronze sword (Class 4) discovered during the Stage (i) Test Excavations (www.excavations.ie 2020:464). The sword from testing and the sword fragments from excavation are not related and represent two separate swords from the site.
Phase 2 in Area 2 comprised a charcoal-production pit and associated hearth located 16m north-east of the Phase 1 roundhouse. The charcoal-production pit was sub-oval in plan and measured 1.92m in length by 1.47m in width by 0.45m in depth and contained four fills. Two phases of use were identified. Phase 3 in Area 2 consisted of a large stone-lined and keyhole-shaped cereal-drying kiln, abutting the eastern extent of the Phase 1 roundhouse. It measured 7.6m in length, by 4.1m in maximum width at the drying chamber end, by 1.1m in depth. Phase 4 in Area 2 comprised a series of furrows and the aforementioned stone and topsoil layer sealing the Phase 1 roundhouse.
Area 3 contained two phases of activity. Phase 1 comprised six pits, three post-holes, a single stake-hole and a hearth. No structural pattern was evident within the layout of the post-holes and stake-hole. Phase 4 consisted of two furrows, one of which truncated a Phase 1 post-hole.
Artefacts recovered from Area 3 consisted of a flint flake and a struck, split stone object from Phase 1 pits.
Post-excavation analysis is ongoing and it is anticipated that specialist reports, including radiocarbon dating and comparative research, will further enhance our understanding of the site.

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