Aegis Archaeology - Cloghermore Pits

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Cloghermore Pits

Pits at Cloghermore, Tralee, County Kerry
Ironworking activity and earlier Bronze Age activity

Monitoring of the N21 Tralee to Caatleisland roadway during April to July 1999, uncovered a series of previously unrecorded pits, which were subsequently excavated, being funded by Kerry County Council These were concentrated on the eastern side of a rock outcrop which covers

Cloghermore: Bronze age pit

Cloghermore cave, which has been designated a National Monument. Viking artifacts as well as human and animal burials were excavated from this cave system over two seasons in 1999 and 2000.

In all, seventeen pits were identified on the eastern side of the rock outcrop. The majority of these contained varying quantities of iron slag, which is a by-product of iron smelting. Other pits produced charcoal while yet more displayed evidence of burning in the form of fire reddened clay, but did not produce either slag or charcoal.

It appears that the majority of these sites were part of a small but intensive industrial site, concerned with the production of iron. Some of the pits are the remains of bowl furnaces, where a layer of charcoal was charged in a simple pit, then covered with a layer of iron ore. A clay dome may have

Cloghermore: Bowl furnace

been placed over the top, while a bellows inserted through a hole in the side helped to raise the temperature. The resultant ‘bloom’ was removed and hammered, before ultimately being forged into tools or implements. Indeed, some of the pits at Cloghermore may in fact be forging pits where the ‘bloom’ was worked on after being smelted.

Radiocarbon (calibrated Sigma 2) dates for two of these features produced dates in the late Iron Age. These were located on the western side of the cave. Charcoal from a forging pit dated from between AD 130-420, while a nearby bowl furnace dated from between AD 100-450.

Charcoal was retrieved from a pit on the eastern side of the cave and was also sent for scientific dating. This feature had not produced any iron working debris, and appeared to be isolated from the main area of activity. The radiocarbon (calibrated Sigma 2) date was returned as 2010-1650 BC, giving us a date in the earlier part of the Bronze Age. The function of this pit is as yet unknown.

Cloghermore: Forging pit

From the dating evidence it appears that two distinct phases of activity area apparent at this location. The industrial activity in the Iron Age was predated by almost 2000 years by Bronze Age activity. It seems that construction of the road has clipped portions of each phase, allowing a small glimpse into the past at Cloghermore. It is almost certainly the case that the full extent of these sites lie outside of the area stripped for the construction of the roadway.