Enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

In rocky pasture on a naturally level platform on the SW slope of the Knockadoon Peninsula, 50m NE of and overlooking Lough Gur. The Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement site (Site 10) was excavated in 1954 during a campaign of archaeological excavations over 18 seasons led by Professor Seán P. Ó Ríordáin at Lough Gur (Grogan and Eogan 1987, 437-62). The site is located within an area of dense archaeological activity dating principally from the Neolithic and Bronze Age up to the present day around the lake (Cleary 2018). Further Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements are located adjacent to the site. Archaeological excavations by Ó Ríordáin at Site B (LI032-022009-) were located c. 80m ESE. Archaeological excavations by Ó Ríordáin at Site H (LI032-022006-) were located c. 50m ENE. Archaeological excavations by Ó Ríordáin at Site F (LI032-022004-) were located c. 55m NNE. Many other archaeological sites are located on the peninsula, including Circle K (LI032-022028-) located 175m to NE.
The enclosure site (LI032-022003-/Site 10) is not depicted on historic OSi maps. Curving stone enclosure wall footings are visible on OSi orthoimages taken 2005-12 and on Digital Globe orthoimages taken 2011-2013. The site was published posthumously by Eoin Grogan and Professor George Eogan (1987, 437-62). Site 10 is an enclosed habitation site dating from the late Neolithic (Beaker period). Initially it was an open settlement associated with a poorly defined house. In the second phase the site was protected by a double-kerbed wall which cut off the habitation from the rest of the peninsula. The enclosure produced an assemblage of Beaker pottery, but activity represented by a small quantity of Food Vessel pottery suggested continued occupation into the Early Bronze Age. The habitation platform (ext. dims. 34m NE-SW; 20m NW-SE) is bounded on the E and W sides by outcrops of limestone. To the SW the ground falls away in a series of broad geological steps to the lake shore. Before excavation a double-kerbed wall was visible running across the N side of the site between the outcropping rock. Excavation concentrated on the S and E sides of the main platform. In addition a short length of wall bounding the E side of a lower platform to the S was exposed and two trial trenches were opened to the S of the site but produced no evidence of activity. The most recent aerial photographs show that the site was enclosed on at least three sides and only the S edge, which faces the lake, is without a wall. Finds included a large collection of flint tools, arrowheads, stone axes, bone and stone perforated discs and beads and a large collection of diagnostic Neolithic and Early Bronze Age pottery. The surviving enclosure bank with its double sided orthostatic wall is visible on Google Earth orthoimage taken 28/06/2018.

To see a 3D model of this monument, visit: https://skfb.ly/osqZR

See attached Google Earth orthoimage

Compiled by: Edmond O’Donovan

Date of upload: 6 November 2020

References

Grogan, E. and Eogan, G. 1987 Lough Gur excavations by Seán P. O Ríordáin; further Neolithic and Beaker habitations on Knockadoon. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 87C, 299-506.

Cleary, R. 2018 The archaeology of Lough Gur. Dublin. Wordwell.