Settlement cluster

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on the flat western summit of Turlough Hill in an area of exposed karst limestone with some thin fertile soil. There are spectacular views over Galway Bay, SE Galway and NE Clare. The flat summit (600m E-W; 120-160m N-S) of the stepped hill is shoe-shaped in plan, unenclosed, and divided centrally by two large natural depressions. One hundred and sixty hut sites, some individual and some conjoined, are spread across the entire summit (including the central area with the depressions) but they are placed some distance back both from a large cairn (CL006-017002-) in the W half and a multivallate enclosure or labyrinth-like feature (CL003-053----) in the E half. The spatial relationship of the monuments along with the absence of any defensive structure implies a ritual or social function. The hut sites (diam. c. 6-11m) consist of circular, oval and less regular wall footings (Wth c. 1m) of limestone slabs surrounding natural hollows in the karst and often appear in clustered groups. More hut sites may have been lost to erosion. Two trenches, each cutting a pair of foundations were excavated in April 2016 (Ó Maoldúin and McCarthy 2016). Cutting 1 was excavated through a pair of presumed hut foundations to the W of the central depressions and cutting 2 through a pair to the E. No artefacts were retrieved from either cutting but occupation debris, preserved under the collapse of a wall-footing was identified in cutting 1 and a probable hearth in the centre of a structure was identified in cutting 2. It is unknown whether the foundations were covered over with wood, sod or a tent-like structure. Radiocarbon dates from charcoal samples are awaited. Comparable prehistoric house clusters occur at Knocknarea and Mullaghfarna, Co. Sligo. A hillfort (CL003-036001-) lies c. 580m to the E on the eastern summit of Turlough Hill. (Bergh 2008, 2015, 2016; Bergh, Ó Maoldúin and McCarthy 2016)

Compiled by: Mary Tunney

Date of upload: 20 December 2017

References

Bergh, S. 2008 Surveying Turlough Hill. In Comber, M. and Jones, C. (compilers) Burren landscape and settlement. An Irish National Strategic Archaeolgical Research (INSTAR) project, 22-30. The Heritage Council.

Bergh, S., Ó Maoldúin, R. and McCarthy, N. 2016 The archaeology of Turlough Hill. In The Irish Quaternary Association Field Guide No. 33, 18-25

Bergh, S. 2016 Turlough Hill – Place-making and mountains in prehistoric Ireland. 3rd International landscape archaeology conference proceedings 2014. http://lac2014proceedings.nl/article/view/50, accessed 8 January 2018.

Ó Maoldúin, R. and McCarthy, N. 2016 Preliminary report on excavation 16E0130 Turlough Hill, Co. Clare. Upublished excavation report. National Monuments Service, Department of the Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.

Bergh, S. 2015 Where worlds meet. Two Irish prehistoric mountain-top villages. Il Capitale Culturale: studies on the value of cultural heritage 12, 21-44.