Crannóg from Newtownlow
The Crannóg of Newtownlow is located in Newtownlow ( Irish An Baile Nua ) northeast of Kilbeggan in the south of County Westmeath in Ireland . The partially destroyed Crannóg was discovered during land reclamation in a silted lake. The excavations took place between 1982 and 1989.
The Crannóg consisted of a hill made of stones with a diameter of 30 to 35 cm, which were partially held by a palisade . A possible house structure was shown near the center. The finds included bronze needles, comb fragments, a spindle whorl made of bone, a grinding stone and part of an Anglo-Saxon coin from the 10th century, which date the Crannóg to AD 900–1100.
Two connected open hearths were uncovered under a disrupted level. A black layer of organic waste was superimposed on a layer of red ash. It consisted of a complex layer of wood and bushes that contained some machined parts that were interpreted as the remains of a structure destroyed by fire. The finds from this area included an iron pick, a toggle and a spindle whorl made of bone and a segmented red glass bead. A D-shaped structure measuring around 14.0 × 5.0 m, depicted by oak piles, could be assigned to the waste layer. This coincides with a circumferential palisade made of oak boards, which delimit an area of around 20.0 m in diameter made of wood and bushes, which dates to around 1000 AD. Finds from outside the palisade included pieces of wooden vessels, bone combs and a bone gag, an iron pan and an ax with a shaft hole.
Later the palisade was encased with a layer of stone and the center of the island was covered with sterile clay. A shard of green glazed pottery from the stone layer indicates a date in the 12th or 13th century for the renovation.
An examination of the large numbers of animal bones showed the presence of horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, foxes, rabbits and red deer.
The surrounding terrain was examined to establish a link between the finds and the structural evidence.
At Mulligar lies the Cro Inis crannóg .
literature
- C. Bourke: Newtownlow , In: Medieval Archeology 28, 1984 p. 258.
- C. Bourke: Newtownlow , In: Medieval Archeology 29, 1985 p. 219.
- C. Bourke: Newtownlow , In: C. Cotter (ed.), Excavations 1985. Irish Academic Publications, Dublin 1986, p. 40.
- C. Bourke: Newtownlow , In: C. Cotter (ed.), Excavations 1986. Wordwell Ltd., Dublin 1987, p. 37.
- M. Kenny: A find of Anglo-Saxon pennies from Newtownlow, Co. Westmeath , Ríocht na Midhe 7 (3), 1984 pp. 37-43.
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 22 ′ 56.6 " N , 7 ° 25 ′ 55.2" W.