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The enclosure site at Carrowkeel , approximately 7 km from Loughrea, was situated on the western brow of an east/west ridge of higher ground in a l...
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The enclosure site at Carrowkeel , approximately 7 km from Loughrea, was situated on the western brow of an east/west ridge of higher ground in a landscape of gently undulating hills.It was excavated in advance of the N6 Galway to Ballinasloe road scheme, by Headland Archaeology (Ireland) Ltd on behalf of Galway County Council and the National Roads Authority. It can be found at NGR 159326/223949; OD 45 m; Ministerial direction number A024/001.
The site was 150 m from an area of early medieval settlement (RMP: GA097-068), consisting of cashels, a souterrain, house sites and a field system, surviving as substantial upstanding earthworks. The enclosure had been identified on the first edition OS map dated to 1838 (sheet 72), though not on subsequent map surveys, indicating that it had been ploughed away or levelled during agricultural improvement in the 19 th century. A geophysical survey prior to test trenching identified a series of anomalies interpreted as potential ditches, and a large open area of topsoil was removed to assess their extent and character. This revealed a multiperiod enclosure and cemetery site, the main phase of which was represented by a large V-shaped ditch that measured 65 m (east/west) by 47 m. Further inspection revealed the remnants of a substantial internal bank, some of which was fortuitously preserved beneath a 19 th century dry stone field boundary.
The interior south-east quadrant of the enclosure had been used as a cemetery and four separate phases of burial activity were recognised. A cemetery area partly enclosed by an internal double-ditch, was also identified in the south-east corner of the enclosure and 132 individuals were excavated. The majority of graves were suppine west-east burials, although grave cuts were difficult to determine due to the shallow depth of deposition. One of the earliest burials recorded in the assemblage, Skeleton 72 dating to (UB-7423) cal AD 682-872, was a crouched inhumation placed within the partly silted terminus of the double ditch. The cemetery was in use for approximately 700 years, a period of time when wider changes were taking place in society as a whole, in particular the adoption of Christianity and the increasing dominance of the church.
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