Farrandreg basement
The three- story basement of Farrandreg in the townland of the same name ( Irish Fearann Dreig ) west of Dundalk is one of 14 basements that were excavated in the basement-rich County Louth in Ireland until 1998 . Ten other basements, including the Newtownbalregan basement , are within a 1.5 km radius of the site.
description
The basement was discovered during construction work on a flat hill east of Farrandreg House, where a drywall ventilation shaft was initially found. Archaeological surveys uncovered the line of an infilled basement as a dark spot that stood out against the yellow, sandy clay. An experimental trench exposed a dark, humus deposit containing lentils made from ash, charcoal and stone. In the case of basements , a distinction is made between “earth-cut”, “rock-cut”, “mixed”, “stone built” and “wooden” (e.g. Coolcran, County Fermanagh ). The upper walls of this "mixed" basement, built from large, irregular limestone blocks , which towered up to a height of 1.0 m, were found about 1.0 m below the surface. A thin layer of deposited soil covers a large fall .
The east-west oriented basement was opened in the middle by a narrow crawlway. The eastern section led to a large, rectangular chamber that was 2.8 m wide, 4.4 m long and 1.0 m high. A middle wall served to support the falls. The western section led to the elongated chamber that was first discovered during the probing. From this upper chamber, two further, lower chambers were reached through a semicircular slip . The first was 8.5 m long, up to 1.3 m wide and between 1.0 and 1.5 m high. This was the end point of the discovered ventilation shaft. The second chamber was also reached through a semicircular slip. Four rectangular slots above this hatch held charcoal. This lower chamber, which is up to 2.1 m high, was partially cut out of the bedrock (“rock-cut”). It was 7.5 m long, between 1.1 m and 2.0 m wide. Lintels had been removed from the corridors of the upper chamber, while the lower ones were intact and apparently not entered. The upper chambers and corridors were filled with black clay and frequent lentils made from ash and charcoal, which were obviously remnants of settlement.
The finds include basement ware , a fragmentary round mill, bone needles, a bone comb, worked flint and animal bones. The location of the finds shows that the lintels were removed as early as the Middle Ages, as there were no finds after the 12th century. The basement was filled in after the excavation.
See also
literature
- Deirdre Murphy: Archaeological Excavation of a Souterrain at Farrandreg, Dundalk, County Louth In: Journal of the County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 24, No. 2 (1998) pp. 261-280
- Mark Clinton: The Souterrains of Ireland . Wordwell, Bray Co. Wicklow 2001, ISBN 1-869857-49-6
- Jürgen E. Walkowitz: The megalithic syndrome. European cult sites of the Stone Age (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Vol. 36). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3 .