Drumirril, Iniskeen, Co. Monaghan, Ireland, 2003.
Image credit: Ken Williams
A pioneering excavation on a rock art site in Drumirril, Iniskeen was undertaken by Blaze O’Connor in 2003, and set a high standard for future investigations of rock art panels.
A small-scale test excavation was conducted within a study area known as the Deer Park, which has a dense concentration of rock art on natural sandstone outcrops, clustering on the small hills and ridgelines that characterise the area. The excavation followed a large-scale, fine-resolution geophysical survey which had identified a range of anomalies near the rock art panels. These included possible pits, post-holes and areas of burning, and several curvilinear enclosures and field boundaries. A number of these anomalies were tested using seven tightly targeted excavation trenches (ranging in size from 1m by 1m to 6m by 2m), several of which revealed substantial prehistoric features.
Image credit: Ken Williams
One trench uncovered a pit measuring 1.35m in diameter and 0.22m deep, and containing small fragments of Early Neolithic pottery; another trench revealed part of a large area of outcropping sandstone lying just below the topsoil. A raised and exposed section of the same outcrop features known rock art. The surface of the outcrop had been discoloured and slightly vitrified by intense burning, and a natural linear depression in the stone was filled with a charcoal-rich deposit and capped with stones.
Additional trenches were positioned in order to investigate an oval enclosure (measuring c. 52m by 35m) visible on the ground surface as a low bank, and encompassing a hilltop featuring several rock art panels. An internal terrace-like area which had exhibited a significant concentration of geophysical anomalies was found to feature a central pit, with a substantial fire-reddened stone setting (1.6m in diameter) defining its upper edge, and a stone-lined post-hole at its base. Surrounding this were two small charcoal-rich deposits, and a series of three stone-lined post-holes. Based on the geophysical survey results, the post-holes were believed to continue beyond the extent of the excavation and to define a trapezoidal-shaped area around the central pit. The trench yielded several finds, including a flint round scraper, a quartz hammerstone, a blue glass bead, cremated bone fragments, charcoal, burnt hazelnut-shell fragments and fragments of a porous vitrified material. The features were covered with a layer of angular slabs of local sandstone, probably quarried from the hilltop itself, which appeared to further define the terrace area. A cross-section of the surrounding enclosure was investigated, revealing an outer bank and inner ditch. Associated with the bank was an outer stone revetment and a possible post-hole set into the bedrock at the base of the inner slope. The lower ditch fill and a deposit overlying the outer slope of the bank both yielded Neolithic pottery sherds. A thick layer of angular sandstone slabs also covered the features in this trench.
Read more:
O’Connor, B. 2003. Recent Excavations in a Rock Art Landscape. Archaeology Ireland 17(4): 14-16.