ABSTRACTS
Volume VIII 1997

AN UNRECORDED ENCLOSURE AND MEGALITHIC CHAMBER IN KEELDRUM LOWER, COUNTY DONEGAL

H. E. KILBRIDE-JONES

with contributions by
J. C. BRINDLEY and E. HARBISON-SOERGEL

Within a small coastal area, situated between Horn Head and Magheraroarty in north-west County Donegal, there exists a small group of isolated monuments, all of a megalithic character. Situated in the townland of Keeldrum Lower is an enclosure which remained unnoticed even after three county surveys, though Thomas Fagan had entered a note upon it during the initial Ordnance Survey of 1845. In 1974 the author's attention was drawn to this site by the landowner. A preliminary survey indicated little but surface indications of two uprights and part of a circular wall. The excavation of 1976 revealed that the wall was part of a seeming cashel-like structure, which can be best described as a penannular enclosure incorporating a ruined chamber of megalithic character with which is associated a forecourt formerly with stone facade. Two occupation levels were noted: the lower yielded Western Neolithic Ware, a plano-convex flint knife, two cremations and five deposits of mollusc shells; the small upper and secondary floor yielded an iron object, a bone needle, a bracelet, ring and two spindle whorls of stone, and many bones of underfed and immature animals.

BOG BUTTER: A TWO THOUSAND YEAR HISTORY

CAROLINE EARWOOD

Analysis of 274 examples of bog butter from bogs in Ireland and Scotland reveal just over half were buried in wooden containers. This study looks at the changing styles of wooden bog butter containers from the Iron Age to the Medieval period, reports on recent radiocarbon dating and examines the production methods and use of bog butter. A gazetteer of bog butter finds is appended.
A BRONZE AGE CEMETARY MOUND AT GRANGE, CO. ROSCOMMON

BREANDAN O RIORDAIN
with contributions by
A. L. BRINDLEY and BARRA O DONNABHAIN

The rescue excavation of a tumulus at Grange, Co. Roscommon, in 1966-67, revealed that the cemetery mound contained eight cist graves and six secondary pit burials. Six of the cists contained Bowl-type funerary vessels and human remains. Cremations were the principal bone deposit in six cists and two of the cists contained unburnt skeletal material. Cremations were present in the six pit burials. In three instances they were accompanied by vessels of the Vase Urn class. Additional finds included a miniature cup in one grave and a small rimsherd, possibly of another cup, and a perforated bone pendant or amulet in another. Of particular interest was the discovery of a six-riveted bronze dagger, related to the Armorico-British type, with its bone pommel, a Vase Urn, a cremation and charcoal, in Grave 10 which was radiocarbon dated to the 18th century cal. BC.

THE PATTERNS OF THE BROIGHTER TORC

MICHAEL AVERY
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY
QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY, BELFAST

The construction and decoration of the Broighter torc are reviewed (the two decorated half-tubes and the terminals). The patterns are analysed into constituent shapes, and their relationship with the decorated scabbards from Lisnacrogher is discussed, as is their relationship to the ambiguities of La Tène 'shape-changing'. It is argued that the torc was wholly manufactured in Ulster, and shows the extent to which Ulster craftsmen understood and exploited the changing techniques and decorative fashions of the contemporary Continent. The model of the society that could produce this item is discussed in theory, and it is suggested that the decorated La Tène items from Ulster can be understood only if they were created and enjoyed by an aristocratic intelligentsia of craftsmen and patrons, confident in their Irishness yet fully at ease in the intellectual milieu of their social equals in Europe. The implications are briefly discussed for the character of society in Ireland in the final few centuries BC.
The decorated gold torc or collar found with other gold items at Broighter, near the foreshore of Lough Foyle, Co. Londonderry, about 100 years ago, is regularly illustrated as one of the glories of Irish La Tène art. My purpose here is to re-examine the form of the decorative patterns and their parallels, and to discuss the issue of where and in what context the item was made.
The item consists of two parts: the decorated tube and the terminals which serve to join together the ends of the tube. I shall first recapitulate the construction of the tube and its decoration and of the terminals, then discuss the parallels for the decorative patterns and their date. I shall then review the suggestion, still sometimes made, that the terminals were imports from outside Ireland, to which the decorated tube was added in Ulster; I shall conclude that this interpretation is wrong. Finally I shall outline a model of La Tène society by which the ideas of the decoration and of construction are likely to have arrived in Ulster.

BALLINDERRY CRANNOG No.2, CO. OFFALY: THE LATER BRONZE AGE

CONOR NEWMAN
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY,
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, GALWAY

This paper presents a re-consideration of the later Bronze Age horizon at Ballinderry Crannog No. 2 where the Harvard Archaeological Mission uncovered a substantial rectangular wooden building. A case is made for the former existence of a second such building and for the re-dating of ten circular wicker structures to the 6th century AD.

NON-FERROUS METALWORKING IN EARLY HISTORIC IRELAND AND ITS REFLECTION OF THE CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL POSITION OF LAGORE CRANNOG, CO. MEATH

MICHELLE COMBER
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY,
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, GALWAY

Artefacts of fine metalwork from Early Historic Ireland are a well studied aspect of Irish archaeology, though little is usually said of the technological and social contexts in which they were produced. In addition to the technological information derived from an examination of the manufacturing processes, much social information can be revealed. Here, the metalworking evidence from Lagore Crannog is examined and the implications discussed.

INTERPRETING THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF LATE BRONZE AGE LAKE SETTLEMENTS

AIDAN O'SULLIVAN
THE DISCOVERY PROGRAMME,
DUBLIN

This paper offers a range of interpretations for the role of Late Bronze Age lake settlements in their contemporary social, economic and sacred landscapes. The diversity of structures and finds found on these sites suggests that they had a range of functions, not always plainly obvious from a simple 'reading' of the archaeological record.