Extract from the Newsletter of the International Society of Nautical Archaeology
by Michael Gibbons
During the late spring/early summer a combination of low-tides and low lake and river levels led to a number of important new discoveries on the coast, lakes and rivers of Connemara, the Corrib and Clew Bay, on Ireland's western seaboard.
Among the more important discoveries years have been of a stone point from the River Corrib near Galway City; which has produced a large array of Mesolithic material over the years, together with four dug-out canoes (undated). These points have recently been named as "Moynagh points" from a type site in Moynagh Lough, Co. Meath, where six similar objects where found in Mesolithic levels beneath an early Christian period lake dwelling/Crannóg. Their presumed use was as projectile heads or spear points. The ground stone point is a narrow sliver of stone, pointed at either end, and measuring 22.6 cm in length, 3.2cm maximum in width and 0.45 to 0.10mm in thickness. It is made of dark shale, or mudstone, which was originally shaped, burnished and polished over most of its surface. The object, one of only a handful from the west coast of Ireland, belongs to the latter part of the Irish Mesolithic period, and probably dates to 5500-4500 BC.
Further west, on Ross Lake, the remains of a large stone Crannóg were identified during some summer fieldwork on the site of a robbed-out late medieval castle. Low water levels revealed the remains of an enclosing cashel wall at the waters edge on the south and east sides of the Island along with a well -preserved bow-shaped stone dock on the north-east corner. The Crannóg cairn on which the later castle was built is massive, rising steeply from the lake bed to a height of over two metres on the southern side, while the dock has parallels on to two of the three stone Crannógs on Loch na Scainimhe (Lough Scannive) in South Connemara, though it is more bow-shaped and slightly wider.
Further to the west, fieldwork by Ruairi O'Neill a new stone lake dwelling or island cashel has been identified on Lough Dhuleitir, in an area already rich in similar sites. This site contained a narrow entrance dock on its eastern side. Little is known about the date or function of these sites in Ireland, which are morphologically very similar to such sites throughout the Gaelic west, from Connemara to the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Some were clearly occupied and used by the Gaelic elite, down to their destruction during the mid 17th century Cromwellian conquest of the area. Some were later re-used for a variety of purposes including as hideout, brew houses and as the setting for 18th and 19th century follies.
In the far west of Connemara, on the Errislannan peninsula, we identified a multi-phase complex of stone-built fish traps at the mouth of three small streams on Lough Sáile; one of which is still in use. The largest of these stone traps (now unused except by Otters) was used to catch Mullet in the autumn, while the smaller of the two trap complexes was used to catch a small fish known as Marns (Marracháns). The latter are fished still by a local man, John Folan, using a home-made cone-shaped hand trap which is placed into the narrow neck of the westerly, still active, trap. These fish have been confirmed as Sand smelt which spawn in the lake in early summer. The lake is also home to a small Tern colony, which feasts on the smelts. This fishery was an important food resource right around the circle of Mannin bay, which was densely populated in the 19th century, and the smelt were a welcome arrival into the area during the hard months of late spring early summer. The wicker (now chicken wire) traps, were known as "Cohills". Every third household or so had one and the smelt were fished only on the incoming spring tides and before flood tide, when the stone traps were completely covered. The term Cohill or cochullis found in glosses to the Senchus Mor, one of the great compilations of early Irish Law.
Further north, on old Head Beach County Mayo, on Clew Bay, local people came across timbers beneath the sand but it is not clear if these are ship’s timbers or part of a quay structure. Field work is ongoing in mapping in the tidal zone archaeology of a number of South Connemara islands. Early indications are that these islands contain one of the richest arrays of historic features in the country. The sites vary from holy wells, stone boats, intertidal roads, quays, slips, fish traps and kelp kilns. The bulk of the quays date to the 18th and 19th centuries and were used to ferry a range of goods throughout the islands and beyond. The trade in turf in particular left a huge impact and led to the destruction of nearly all the coastal bogs in the area.
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