1. the Prehistoric Archaeology of Clontuskert 02/09/2009 22:46 Page 17
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1. The Prehistoric Archaeology of Clontuskert 02/09/2009 22:46 Page 17 The Prehistoric CHAPTER Archaeology of 1 Clontuskert Although the parish of Clontuskert is known today for its association with the ecclesiastical foundation, recent archaeological discoveries have uncovered evidence of people in this landscape for as long as there has been a population on this island. Given its geographical location alongside one of the great routeways of the West, the river Suck, this is not surprising (Figure 1). However, in order to understand the history of settlement in Clontuskert, it is necessary to look at the wider picture, at the arrival of these first humans to Ireland and the environment they found themselves living in. The First Arrivals The European continent has been inhabited for about 700, 000 years, but the earliest evidence we have for human settlement in Ireland dates to sometime around 7,000 BC (about 9,000 years ago), a period of time known as the Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age. Up until the Mesolithic, the country would have been covered (facing page) with ice, although it is thought that some parts of the south of the Looking across country would have been ice-free and may have been receptive to Gorteenaveela human habitation. About 15,000 years ago, the ice sheets covering to Loughaunbrean and Garrylawrence 17 FORD CORREEN NORTH Cloonascragh CLOONASCRAGH RIVER CLOONASCRAGH Gannaveen 1. ThePrehistoricArchaeologyofClontuskert01/09/200920:55Page18 RIVER SUCK BALLINURE RIVER BALLINURE Barrow 5 Barrow Kellysgrove © OrdnanceSurvey Ireland. Ireland/Government No. Permit 8596. KELLYSGROVE BOG KELLYSGROVE Lakefield of the O’Kellys Coolbeg Barrow 2 Barrow Fulacht Fiadh Inauguration Mound Abbeypark Barrow 3 Barrow Barnpark Barrow 4 Barrow Somerset Barnaboy Loughs Atticoffey Cilín associated with the Catraigh? Caltraghgarraun FortCaltraghgarraun Hearth and Pits Site of Bronze Age Site of Bronze Mackney Loughturk East Loughturk Gortnahorna Templepark Loughturk West Loughturk Barrow 1 Barrow Urraghry Corrabaun Location of Possible Ardranny Beg Ardranny Site of Fulacht Fiadh Bronze Age Field System Bronze Findspot of Early MELEHAN RIVER discovered duringdiscovered road works Mesolithic Stone Tools Mesolithic Stone Site of Possible Standing Stones Site of Possible 1. The Prehistoric Archaeology of Clontuskert 01/09/2009 20:53 Page 19 The Prehistoric Archaeology of Clontuskert Ireland started to melt or evaporate and about 1,000 years after that, the climate began to warm considerably. Plants, including shrubs such as juniper and birch flourished. Animals, including the Giant Deer and reindeer, arrived via a land bridge (or bridges) from western Britain to graze on open meadowlands. Between 10,500 and 10,000 years ago, the temperature dropped again and a short Ice Age occurred. Due to the consequential loss of its food supply, the Giant Deer became extinct and reindeer also disappeared at that time. About 9,000 years ago, pine, elm and other species of trees appeared, marking the beginning of a long-term process of afforestation. The migration of species continued. Red deer, boar, bear, red squirrel, pine marten, wolf, fox, stoat and birds of prey took up residence. The lakes and rivers created by the melting ice sheets teemed with fish, and game birds would have been present in abundance. The first humans are likely to have been short-stay, seasonal hunting and foraging parties who followed the migratory animals. They may have been guided here by the mountains along the eastern seaboard, visible from the west coast of Britain at that time because of lower sea levels. Between 8,500 and 7,700 years ago, the sea level rose and permanently severed the land bridges with Britain. This, perhaps more than any other event in history shaped the future of our country: we were now an island. The clearest evidence we have for a more permanent human presence on this new island was found at Mount Sandel, Co. Derry. On a ridge overlooking the River Bann, the remains of circular hut sites, hearths and storage pits and stone artefacts, including flint blades and axeheads, were found during an (Previous page) excavation in the 1970s. Although it was commonly thought that Figure 1. Mesolithic people were nomadic ‘hunter-gatherers’ and moved Map of prehistoric sites in from place to place depending on the seasons and seasonal Clontuskert 19 1. The Prehistoric Archaeology of Clontuskert 01/09/2009 20:53 Page 20 The Parish of Clontuskert - Glimpses into its Past resources, it has been suggested that the settlement at Mount Sandel functioned as a type of ‘base camp’ where the inhabitants exploited the food resources of a wide area over much of the year. During the excavation, the bones of salmon, pig and eel, hazelnut shells and water lily seeds were found, which indicate that the site was occupied all the year round, rather than seasonally. Similar evidence was found at Lough Boora, Co. Offaly, Dalkey, Co. Dublin and at coastal sites in counties Kerry and Louth. The wide geographical distribution of these sites demonstrates that the population was not confined to one place, but was mobile and likely to have used the coast and the extensive network of rivers and lakes to get around. The remarkable find of a Middle to Late Mesolithic dugout canoe, at Carrigdirty on the Shannon Estuary, demonstrates the kind of transport used. Often when archaeologists look for signs of an organised society, they look to burial practices and rituals associated with the dead. As recently as 2003, the first conclusive evidence for Mesolithic burial in Ireland was uncovered during an excavation in the townland of Hermitage, just south of Castleconnell, Co. Limerick. The cremated burials were accompanied by votive offerings of stone axes and flint tools and a wooden post had been used as a grave marker over one of the burials. Before Hermitage it was thought that Early Mesolithic society was too unsophisticated to bury its dead in this ritualised manner but the evidence implies that society was sufficiently stable and evolved to do so. A low population may be one of the reasons there is so little evidence for burials dating to this period, as it is estimated that only about 7,000 people were living here during that time. Although as yet we have no evidence for Mesolithic houses or burials or boats in Clontuskert, recent excavations in the townland of Urraghry, carried out as part of the N6 Galway to 20 1. The Prehistoric Archaeology of Clontuskert 01/09/2009 20:53 Page 21 The Prehistoric Archaeology of Clontuskert Ballinasloe Dual Carriageway road scheme, uncovered stone tools which have been dated to the Early Mesolithic. The tools, which included a small blade, were made from chert, a brown-black sedimentary rock which produces sharp edges for cutting or scraping. The artefacts were found on low-lying reclaimed peatland and are directly comparable to stone tools found during excavations at both Lough Boora and Mount Sandel. They are regarded as significant finds in terms of Irish archaeology and show that people were in this landscape from earliest times, no doubt using the Suck and nearby Melehan rivers to get around. The Neolithic If the Mesolithic marked the arrival of the first humans, the Neolithic (or New Stone Age) saw those people make a significant impact on the landscape. This period, which lasted from c. 4000- 2400 BC, is characterized by a change from a hunter-forager lifestyle to an agriculture-based economy. We have evidence for cereal cultivation (wheat, barley, corn), the domestication of animals (cattle, pig and sheep/goat), and land management (large- scale woodland clearance and the construction of drystone boundary walls). Stone axes were used for felling and ring-barking trees during this land clearance or landnam phenomenon associated with the first farmers. These axeheads would have been inserted into wooden hafts and secured with either sticky resin or tied with a leather binding. Evidence for the earliest use of a simple wooden plough (known as an ‘ard’) was also found at Belderg, Co. Mayo. For the first time we have the appearance of pottery in the archaeological record. These changes in the way people lived led to an increase in population and sufficient social organisation to construct sophisticated community monuments such as the passage tombs of the Boyne Valley. It is generally thought that this 21 1. The Prehistoric Archaeology of Clontuskert 01/09/2009 20:53 Page 22 The Parish of Clontuskert - Glimpses into its Past new economy came about as a result of influence from continental Europe, where agriculture was well-established at that time. Excavation has shown that people lived in substantial timber houses, usually constructed from oak posts (we know from the pollen record that there was no scarcity of trees for use as raw material). These dwellings were either circular or rectangular in shape and more often than not, built as single farmsteads rather than in a village-style arrangement. Examples of rectangular houses have been found at Tankardstown, Co. Limerick and Newtown Co. Meath, while excavations at Belderg Beg, Co. Mayo uncovered evidence for an enclosure with an internal circular structure. Plate 1. The Kellysgrove Hoard. (Courtesy of the National Museum of Ireland) Although no Neolithic monuments have been recorded from within the parish of Clontuskert to date, a number of artefacts have been recovered which provide us with evidence for a human presence in the area at that time. In the late 1930s, a group of turf cutters found four stone objects lying in the peat in Kellysgrove Bog (Plate 1). This ‘hoard’ consists of three stone axeheads and a 22 1. The Prehistoric Archaeology of Clontuskert 01/09/2009 20:53 Page 23 The Prehistoric Archaeology of Clontuskert polished stone sickle.