31 Archaeology Ireland Spring 2011

T
he Achill Field School has a well-
established reputation for working on
post-medieval settlement sites on
Slievemore Mountain and at other
locations on Achill and around Clew Bay in
County Mayo. What on earth, you might
ask, are they doing spending more and
more time each summer neck-deep in
blanket bog and poking about at Bronze
Age houses and field walls? Definitely a
good question . . .
It all started in 2006, when three
diminutive test pits were excavated in the
centre and immediately north and east of a
then undated roundhouse known locally as
the Brion. The site is located high above
the western end of the well-known
eighteenth- and nineteenth-century
deserted village, and within a vast pre-bog
field system. Two of the test pits were
excavated outside the structure to test high
readings of phosphate that had been
THE SLIEVEMORE ROUNDHOUSES
Stuart Rathbone reports on the excavation of two Bronze Age houses on Achill Island.
Survey of archaeoIogicaI
features on SIievemore.
SIievemore roundhouse 1.
Archaeology Ireland Spring 2011
the south and west of the building and the
previous two seasons trenches were
reopened and expanded, finally allowing a
full assessment of the building to be
completed.
The site is located at 120m OD and is
formally known as Slievemore, roundhouse
1. It is a remarkable building, both in terms
of the scale of the original architecture and
its level of preservation. The building is
defined by a massive drystone wall, which
is in most areas over 2m wide and still
stands to a height of 1.7m on the southern,
downslope side. The building has external
measurements of 11.6m by 10.4m, but
owing to the thickness of the walls the
internal space measures just 6.8m by 6.6m.
In plan it is a slightly oval shape, with its
long axis aligned east to west, and there is
an entrance to the east. The entrance
consists of a 0.7m-wide passage that runs
through the walls and curiously extends for
1m into the buildings internal space. It is
lined with upright stones and has a rough
stone pavement along its base. The western
identified in the soil by Field School student
Hannah Ulrich as part of her MA research,
but whatever had created the high
phosphate readings had completely
decomposed and integrated into the soil. A
slightly larger test pit was excavated in the
interior to examine the stratigraphy within
the building. This trench identified a layer
of post-abandonment buried turf that was
rich in charcoal, from which a sample was
recovered. Below this layer a scatter of
rather uninspiring stake-holes were
identified. The charcoal from the buried turf
was subsequently dated to 14111210 cal.
BC (2 sigma), suggesting that the building
was abandoned in the middle Bronze Age.
In 2007 two trenches excavated over the
northern wall of the building began to
reveal its scale and complexity and led to
the decision in 2008 to split the excavation
season equally between completing the
excavations at house 23 in the deserted
village, under way since 2004, and
completing the work at the roundhouse.
Three new trenches were excavated around
32
end of the entrance is marked by two large,
pillar-like orthostatic stones which stand to
a height of at least 1.05m, while a second,
slightly lower pair mark the eastern end.
Inside the building a central hearth was
identified, and a pair of small post-holes
and some additional stake-holes were
excavated in the area around it. There is a
noticeable lack of substantial post-holes in
the interior, and it is suspected that any
such features may be located in
unexamined areas closer to the walls. A
sample from the central hearth was
examined by Dr Ingelise Stuijts and was
found to contain a wide range of deciduous
species: holly, alder, hazel, blackthorn, oak
and birch. A sample of hazel was dated to
12961115 cal. BC (2 sigma), which in
combination with the date from the buried
turf suggests that the house was occupied
sometime after 1300 BC and had been
abandoned by 1200 BC.
Recognisable artefacts from the
building were disappointingly few and
confined to a small number of pieces of
Clockwise from above: PIan of roundhouse 1.
Looking aIong the entrance of roundhouse 1, with the internaI
orthostats in the foreground.
Looking into roundhouse 1 from beyond the entrance.
The outer face of the massive southern waII of roundhouse 1.
33 Archaeology Ireland Spring 2011
worked flint. A large assemblage of
fragmented quartz was encountered,
however, and this was collected in its
entirety for examination at a later stage.
The name roundhouse 1 implies that
this building does not stand alone, and
indeed a very similar building is located
about 50m to the east. With work
completed at roundhouse 1 and at house 23
in the deserted village the previous year,
2009 seemed like the perfect time to
examine this building.
Excavations at Slievemore roundhouse 2
were begun in June 2009 and completed in
the first half of the 2010 season. This
building proved to be equally as impressive
as the first, having external dimensions of
11.3m by 11m, similarly sized walls and an
internal area measuring 6.3m by 6.2m. The
entrance was aligned to the south-east and
again lined by upright stones, with the
addition of drystone walling in places.
Whilst the large orthostats are not present
at either end of this entrance, the paving
R O U N D H O U S E S
running through it is much more
substantial, consisting of large flat slabs
with a clear, upright sill stone formally
marking the division between the exterior
and the interior.
In the centre of the building another
hearth was located, again surrounded by a
scatter of small post- and stake-holes.
Charcoal from this hearth proved even
more diverse, with the addition of willow
and ling heather to the same range of
deciduous species found in roundhouse 1. A
date of 14311314 cal. BC (2 sigma) was
returned from a sample of the ling heather.
Two larger post-holes were identified at the
north-eastern and south-western perimeter
of the interior, as had been predicted from
the work on roundhouse 1. It has to be
noted that this building was subject to a
period of major modification and it is clear
that the northern example of the larger
post-holes could only have been used in the
original phase of occupation, whilst the
southern example belongs to the second
From top: The entrance of roundhouse 2.
The paving in the entrance of roundhouse 2.
Pre-bog fieId waII attached to the south-
western side of roundhouse 2.
PIan of roundhouse 2.
Archaeology Ireland Spring 2011 34
R O U N D H O U S E S
remains of these two buildings were visited
for some time after permanent occupation
ended and fires were set in them. The exact
reasons for this can only be guessed at, but
it seems that these visits only stopped
when peat began to form within the
buildings.
As with roundhouse 1, the recognisable
artefact assemblage was limited. A few
pieces of struck flint and chert and two
hammer stones were accompanied by more
of the quartz fragments, which were again
collected en masse. These, and the material
from roundhouse 1, have now been subject
to a preliminary assessment by Dr Killian
ODriscoll, and are confirmed to be man-
made. A full examination of this material is
currently being undertaken.
phase. Other interesting aspects of this
modification involved the deposition of a
thick layer of very sandy clay across the
interior and through the entrance, and the
laying of a rough stone pavement above this
layer within the entrance. The hearth and
the accompanying features in the central
area all belonged to this secondary phase.
Two final features of the interior of this
building are worth mentioning. The first is
the presence of a shallow, curving gully
apparently surrounding the hearth and
separating off the central area from the
perimeter. The second is the presence of
another layer of post-abandonment buried
turf covering the interior of the building,
which was again rich in charcoal. Taken
together it has to be suggested that the
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of
the excavation at roundhouse 2 was the
identification of four previously unknown
field walls that connected up to the
perimeter of the building. The field walls
demonstrate a variety of forms, with those
at the north-east and north-west simply
consisting of rows of large boulders, that at
the south-west consisting of a bank of small
stones into the top of which large
orthostats had been placed, and that at the
south-east consisting of a pair of drystone
wall faces retaining a rubble core. The
points where the field walls connected to
the exterior of the building could be
examined in detail and it was found that
the walls directly abutted the wall face with
no intervening collapse, suggesting that
the walls were built whilst the building was
in good repair, and probably while it was
occupied.
The pre-bog field system on Slievemore
consists of long, sinuous walls running in
parallel down the slope, and occasionally
there are traces of cross-walls running
between the longer walls at right angles.
Pre-bog field walls are notoriously difficult
to date directly, but given the connection
of four of them to a confidently dated
structure it seems reasonable to assume
that many of these walls belong to the
middle Bronze Age too. A collection of
Neolithic tombs starts immediately east of
where the field system ends, however, and
this relationship may be of some
importance. The remains of buildings
appear to be present throughout the field
system, with larger platforms, terraces and
houses located on the lower parts of the
slope and much smaller huts and
foundations located much higher up the
mountain. Developing a better
understanding of the layout and date of the
field system, the associated buildings and
the tombs will therefore be a priority in the
next few years.
Left: Two different roundhouse
reconstructions by IIa Hassett, Trinity
CoIIege, DubIin.
Right: The first of the smaII circuIar
foundations investigated on the terrace
beIow roundhouse 1.
35 Archaeology Ireland Spring 2011
At the end of 2010 work began on a new
site downslope and west of roundhouse 1.
This consists of a large artificial terrace on
which stand a number of small circular
foundations. Early indications suggest a
very complex site also subject to periods of
modification and post-abandonment use,
but so far the purpose of these buildings has
not been established. Major excavations are
due to be undertaken at this site in 2011.
What has become clear is that a very
substantial prehistoric landscape covers a
large proportion of the southern slope of
Slievemore. Current work is focused on
understanding the development of the two
roundhouses and it is hoped that more
radiocarbon dates will be acquired, allowing
us to refine the chronology of construction,
use and abandonment. In addition, the
Field School is working with Exeter
University in order to develop a better
understanding of the climate of Achill over
time, and in particular the process of bog
formation.
The presence of so many different
species from the hearths provides a related
line of enquiry, and it is hoped that the
analysis of further charcoal samples will
provide more information regarding the
range of flora present in the vicinity. It is
interesting to note that all of the deciduous
species are associated with hedgerows, and it
may therefore be the case that the samples
so far analysed derive from hedgerows
associated with the field walls rather than
from actual woodland environments. In
addition, some of the samples include
charred cereal grain, which is currently
being analysed, and this should provide
more detail about the contemporary farming
regime.
Finally, we need to establish why large
quartz blocks were being broken down into
much smaller pieces. Are we seeing the
preparation of quartz tools in the
roundhouses, or was the quartz being
broken down and scattered around the
buildings for decorative or symbolic
reasons?
The Achill Field School has not, of
course, abandoned its research into post-
medieval settlement, and founder Theresa
McDonald is heading up a multi-year
project investigating transhumant booley
house settlements on the island and the
adjacent areas of the mainland.
Nevertheless, the scale, complexity and
excellent state of preservation of the
prehistoric landscape is becoming more
apparent as each week passes, and this is
going to be the main focus of the Field
School over the next few years. Theres an
awful lot of mountain up there, and an
awful lot of interesting-looking stones
jutting out of the bog . . .
Acknowledgements
The Achill Field School gratefully
acknowledges the assistance of the Royal
Irish Academy, who funded the radiocarbon
dates of the hearth samples. We would also
like to thank Simon Faolin, Ros
Maoldin, Nick Brannon and Teresa Bolger
for their involvement with this project since
2006, and all the students who have worked
on the excavations. More details about our
excavations and our range of courses can be
found at www.achill-fieldschool.com.