Hut site

The National Monuments Service's description

Occupying a slight hollow on the S side of a peat-covered rock-rise near Reenarea Point, midway along the S side of Valencia Island. An excavated fulacht fiadh (KE087-039----) lies c. 13m to SW. The hut site was excavated in 1993 and the following description is largely based on the interim report of that excavation (Hayden 1994b, 42-3).
Prior to excavation the site was visible as a subcircular outline marked by slabs protruding above ground surface, and by a slight eastern extension. The site underlay an accumulation of fibrous peat from .4m to .6m thick, and its S foundations rested on peat up to .6m in depth. It comprised a polygonal drystone hut, 2.8m x 2.5m internally, with a subrectangular annex at E. Its roughly built wall stood .91m in maximum height and varied in thickness from .3m at N to .7m at S, where it had collapsed outwardly. A row of upright slabs formed the base of the inner wall-face. The .55m wide entrance at W, with an in situ threshold slab, was flanked by a pair of low uprights. A portion of its broken lintel remained in situ. The floor of the hut was lined with a layer of angular cobbles and contained lintelled drains which led out under the wall at S. The roof of the hut was supported on the wall and on a centrally set post, the stone-lined post-hole for which survived. The roof of the annex may have been corbelled.
The remains of burnt timbers, charcoal, waste flakes of flint and sherds of pottery were found on the floor of the hut. Timber from the hut floor and charcoal from its construction levels yielded radiocarbon dates of 766±20 BC and 796±20 BC respectively.

The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 1201. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 31 July 2013