Midden

The National Monuments Service's description

'At this site an intermittent layer of shells had been noted to be eroding on the cliff face. This layer was usually 0.2-0.4m thick and extended for approximately 80m in length. Shells were also observed on the surface of the field to the south of the cliff-face exposure, about 140m south of the beginning of the midden. Test-pits were placed in the field to establish the extent of the midden. At Point (0) on the main baseline it was established that the midden did not exist but that there was a layer of dark soil present. At 28.5m three test-pits running in from the cliff edge showed that the midden extended for some 10m from the cliff edge but, while the dark soil could be found further away from the cliff edge, the midden itself did not extend as far as 15m from the cliff face. At 100m and 130m to the south test-pits revealed further evidence of the presence of midden, while no evidence was found at 150m.' (Excavation licence number 01E0840; Excavations Bulletin 2001). A radio-carbon determination of 6065 +/- 60 bp (calibrated date range 4800-4500 BC) was recovered from oyster shell at this midden (Milner & Woodman 2007, 104-6, No. 10).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien and Paul Walsh

Date of upload: 05 July 2012

References

Milner, N. and Woodman, P. 2007 Deconstructing the myths of Irish shell middens. In N. Milner, O.E. Craig and G. Bailey (eds) Shell middens in Atlantic Europe. Oxford. Oxbow.