Stone trough

The National Monuments Service's description

During the course of excavations in the W half in the inner enclosure of Dún Aonghasa (GA110-039----), this rectangular stone-lined trough (1.15m by 0.66m; D 0.35m) was uncovered almost directly outside the doorway of Structure 1 (GA110-039021-). It consisted of a base slab with two single slabs making up its W and N sides; there was a distinctive upright or corner stone at its NE corner. Two large flat stones placed against the N slab were retained with rubble. The E and S side-stones did not survive. The trough was well built and the surviving elements were tightly wedged together; any gaps were plugged with spalls. Traces of a very degraded daub survived between the base slab and N side-stone. It is possible that all the joints were originally made watertight with this material. Small quantities of food refuse were found in the fill. The only find was half a pumice bead. A small spread of animal bone found near the base of the fill yielded a radiocarbon date of 730-380 cal. BC. A second corner stone was found c. 1m to the S (Cotter 2012, vol. 1, 330-34).

Compiled by: Olive Alcock

Date of upload: 23 June 2020

References

Cotter, C. 2012 The western stone forts project. Excavations at Dún Aonghasa and Dún Eoghanachta. 2 vols. Dublin. Wordwell Ltd.