Two archaeology students have made an important discovery that could shed new light on Sligo’s prehistoric past.
Ciaran Davis and Rory Connolly discovered a large midden of shells on a ridge overlooking Cummeen Strand near Strandhill in County Sligo.
The midden – the remains of an ancient feast – is a refuse heap that is visible as a large deposit of shells up to 0.5 metres in thickness. The midden, located at Cummeen Strand, contains oyster and periwinkle shells and evidence of cooking from a number of small charcoal pieces.
Ciaran and Rory, who are both final year undergraduates in IT Sligo’s Applied Archaeology BSc Honours degree programme, made the discovery before Christmas and brought it to the attention of IT Sligo archaeology lecturer Dr James Bonsall.
“Shell middens are very important” said Dr Bonsall. “They can date from any time prehistory, from the Mesolithic period some 10,000 years ago, right the way through to the late medieval period just 400 years ago.”
The midden has now been officially recognised by the National Monuments Service as an archaeological site, and it has been added to the national list of recorded archaeological sites and monuments.
“The midden is located up on a ridge, more than 60 metres away from the coast”, says Ciaran Davis, who first noticed it whilst walking an ancient trackway. “There is a trackway marked on an old Ordnance Survey map from nearly 200 years ago. The track is still there and cattle have worn it down into a deep rut.The shells can be seen on either side of the rut.”
Animals can have “a significant impact on archaeology” says Rory Connolly. “Cattle can gradually wear down soft soils along well-worn paths and rabbits, as well as other burrowing animals, can remove large amounts of soil and archaeological deposits”.
Ciaran and Rory’s work has been contributing to a Citizen Scientist coastal erosion project based at IT Sligo entitled: Monitoring the Archaeology of Sligo’s Coastline – the ‘MASC Project’.
“This is not the first midden site to be recorded by the MASC Project” says National Monuments Service archaeologist Jane O’Shaughnessy, who recently recorded the site formally for Government records.
“The initiative was launched by IT Sligo in March 2015 and has already resulted in several new archaeological discoveries,” she says.
“There are 93 shell middens in County Sligo,” continues Dr. Bonsall. “That’s roughly one for every two kilometres of coastline. It’s well known that the very name ‘Sligo’ comes from Slicech (the modern Sligeach) derived from the Garavogue River and later the castle, town and county names and means the ‘Shelly Place’. It’s no wonder that there are more shell middens in Sligo than in any other county in Ireland.”
Dr Jerry Bird, head of the School of Science at IT Sligo emphasised the unique archaeological education on offer. “Ciaran and Rory’s experience is not unusual”, says Dr Bird. “All of our graduates receive extensive practical training in field archaeology and archaeological science and our students have been responsible for some very exciting discoveries over the years. Our Graduates from the BSc Honours Applied Archaeology have key skills for employment as field archaeologists and are highly sought after by private sector archaeological companies.”
Photo caption:
IT Sligo Applied Arhaeology students Rory Connolly (foreground) and Ciaran Davis, who made the shell midden discovery at Cumeen, County Sligo.