Habitation site

The National Monuments Service's description

Located in an area of sand dunes which border a small rounded inlet off Broad Haven Bay, on the NE coastline of the Mullet Peninsula.
This habitation site was recorded in the early 20th-century when Westropp (1914, 78) briefly noted 'hearths and burnt stones' eroding from the sand dunes. Following episodes of severe erosion, an excavation (92E0108) of part of the site was undertaken in 1992 (Zajac 1994; 2004). The excavation revealed that the habitation site was composed of two levels. The lowest level consisted of a layer (D 0.5m) of yellow sand flecked with charcoal and burnt bone. This layer contained bones of domesticated animals, cattle, sheep and pig, and a few horse bones, as well as fragments of cut red deer antler, but there was a surprising absence of fish bones or shellfish. There was evidence that the layer had built up slowly over time with surfaces exposed to weathering and trampling. Charred remains of oats, barley and wheat were found in hearths located to SW of the layer.
Overlying this level was a layer (D 0.4m) of dark, charcoal-enriched sand which incorporated animal and fish bones, shells, and heat-fractured stones. The layer had been disturbed by use of the location in a later era as a burial ground (MA010-004001-) and graves had been dug through the sand layer. The animal bones recovered were all of domesticated species. A single bird bone of a puffin was found. The fish species eaten were cod, hake and wrasse, and the shells were of periwinkle, limpets, cockles, scallops, mussels and oysters. A few fragments of flint and a clay brooch mould were recovered. Samples of animal bone produced radiocarbon dates of 1513 BP +/- 40 for the lower level, and 1382 BP +/- 40 for the upper level. These dates indicated an extended period of activity at the habitation site during the early medieval period, between c. 430-680 AD (Zajac 2004, 147). The occupation layers extended beyond the limits of the excavation and the full extent of the habitation site within the covering sand-dunes is unknown.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 21 September 2021

References

Zajac, S. 1994 Excavation report on Habitation and burial site at Pollacappul, Belmullet, Co Mayo (E108). License no. 92E0108. Unpublished excavation report submitted to NMS.

Zajac, S. 2004 Excavation on habitation and burial site at Pollacuppal townland, Belmullet, Co. Mayo. Cathair na Mart, Journal of the Westport Hististorical Society 24, 139-149

Westropp, T.J. 1914 The promontory forts and early remains of the coasts of County Mayo. Part 3. The Mullet (continued). Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 44, No. 1, 67-83.