Ringfort - rath

The National Monuments Service's description

In undulating pasture, located on rise, overlooking lowlying, damp ground fed by a natural spring which is located 40m to S. There is rising ground to N.
When inspected in1996, this rath consisted of a raised circular area (30.5m N-S; 28.4m E-W) defined at SW-NW by remnants of earthen bank (Wth 2.7m; int. H 0.35m; ext. H 1.3m), reduced elsewhere to a scarp (H 1.5m at SE). The level interior appears to have been created by scarping the natural rise, and probably also by building up the ground in parts to N where it backs onto rising ground. The bank at NW-N was subsumed into a field fence bordering an E-W road. At the NE a stone-built shed of relatively recent date abutted the scarp.
In 2002-3 the northern portion of the rath was excavated (02E0598) in advance of road construction (Zajac 2011, 331-343). The excavation revealed that the bank was carefully constructed with alternate layers of material dug out from the fosse and very cohesive material brought in from the lower ground surrounding the rath, all reinforced with a stone revetment on the inner and external face. It was enclosed by an external U-shaped fosse (Wth top 2.3m, base 0.6m; max. D 2.4m), with an entrance causeway (Wth 5m) across the fosse on the E side of the rath.
The occupation levels of the rath were poorly preserved. In the SE sector a large oval fire pit (2m N–S; 1.2m E–W) was found, containing iron slag, fire-reddened stones, and animal bones. It was surrounded by a charcoal-enriched occupation layer, also containing animal bones.
The assemblage of artefacts recovered included the shaft of a copper-alloy ringed pin, iron objects, a bone needle, beads of blue glass and white faience, and a spindle whorl. Analysis of the animal bones showed that cattle were the main livestock species, with lesser numbers of sheep and pig. The majority of the cattle were killed between 2-3 years of age, at prime meat-bearing age, but the sheep were killed later in adulthood, indicating that they were raised for wool as well as meat. The range of skeletal elements found indicated that the animals were slaughtered on site. Bones of horse, dog and cat were also recovered, and one complete skeleton of a kitten, which had been buried in a pit. Archaeobotanical samples produced evidence for six-row hulled barley, oat, wheat, and hazelnuts.
A pot quern found in the uppermost fill of the fosse suggests that occupation or use of the rath may have continued into at least the later medieval period. In the modern era, an area in the N part of the rath interior was used as a children’s burial ground (MA030-004003-). The excavation also revealed that the rath overlay a Neolithic habitation site (MA030-004001-) with a possible associated enclosure (MA030-004002-). (Zajac 2011).

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 23 July 2019

References

Zajak, S. 2011 Excavations of a ringfort at Carrowkeel, Co. Mayo. In C. Corlett and M. Potterton (eds) Settlement in Early Medieval Ireland in the Light of Recent Archaeological Excavations. Research Papers in Irish Archaeology, 3, 331-343. Bray: Wordwell.