Archaeological Inventory of County Kerry Volume I

Compiled by Elizabeth Byrne, Ursula Egan, Sheila Ronan, Connie Murphy, Denis Power with Alison McQueen and Rhoda Cronin

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVENTORY OF COUNTY KERRY VOLUME 1: SOUTH-WEST KERRY

Stationery Office, Dublin, 2009. Pp. 698 + xviii, 185 colour plates, 31 maps. Price €40 (hbk). ISBN 0-7557-7623-2.

This volume, the 20th in the series of archaeological inventories, covers the baronies of Iveragh, Glanarought, Dunkerron North and South, located on the Iveragh and Beara peninsulas in south-west Kerry.

The volume runs to 698 pages with a short introduction. The main body of the text comprises the inventory entries divided into 48 separate chapters based on the division of the monuments by type/class, a glossary, indices of monument class, place names, monuments, townlands and a Sites and Monuments Record index. A series of black and white maps at the end of the volume illustrate the baronies, topography, geology, soils and monument locations, while 185 plates are used throughout the volume to show a number of the various monuments and features.

The entries are listed alphabetically by townland name, though the decision to list townlands in Gaeltacht areas in Irish and the necessity of placing the definite article at the end of the Irish name does cause some difficulties. It is worth noting that the in two cases the spelling of the townland names do not conform to the spelling on the OS 6 inch maps: Carhoomeengar East and West and Derreenatlooig (shown as Carhoonmeengar and Derreenatoolig respectively).

Monuments and features previously described in The Iveragh Peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry (O’Sullivan & Sheehan 1996) are not described in this volume, the entries simply noting townland, OS sheet and trace, 6 inch sheet co-ordinates, OS representation/s of the monument, height above Ordnance Datum and National Grid co-ordinates. Each entry is cross referenced to the relevant page and entry number in the earlier publication.

Those monuments that have not previously been surveyed or described are given full descriptive entries while a number of monuments recorded in the earlier publication are re-classified based on new data from this current phase of survey. The descriptions follow the tried and tested format, are concise and informative, while the inclusion of the date when the monument was last visited may well prove a very valuable piece of information in the future. The National Grid co-ordinates appear to be accurate, which is a major improvement on those provided with the badly outdated Record of Monuments & Places for Kerry. In total the volume lists 4240 monuments and features in south-west Kerry.

The photographs used in the volume are generally informative, though more could have been made of a few of the more spectacular photographs and in a number of cases the photographs are too small and dark to be of much value (Plates 1, 32, 63, 67 etc). Aerial photography is used to good effect in the book, while we are told in the introduction that available aerial photography was analysed as part of the survey methodology. However, nowhere are we told what aerial photographic archives/sets were analysed, date/s of the photographs, types of photographs consulted and the heights at which they were taken etc.

There are however a number of other criticisms that can be levelled at the volume, while accepting that its primary function is as a record of monuments in the area and not as an archaeological text book. The dating of the beginning of the Mesolithic to 7000BC in the introduction (xvii) would not be accepted universally and a date of around 8000BC has been strongly argued in recent publications (Woodman 2009, xxxviii).

The introduction to the chapter dealing with Megalithic Tombs (4) perpetuates the linkage between the monument type and the Beaker ‘network of contacts’ with little supporting evidence and fails to acknowledge the fact that the finds of Beaker pottery from Kerry (Ross Island, Ardagh, Cloghers and Gortatlea) are all from areas well outside the peninsular concentrations of wedge tombs or that recent excavation and analysis in the south-west (O’Brien 1999, 275) suggests that no direct link can be made between the spread of Beaker material culture and the appearance of wedge tombs in the area.

The introduction to the chapter on Barrows (111) offers a barrow classification based on ‘recognised sub-groups’ yet this classification is not fully outlined or described nor is it based on any accepted, existing classification of Irish barrows.

A number of the entries in the chapter on Field Systems (128-174) are described as being prehistoric (e.g. 129, No. 852; 147, No. 986) yet there is no evidence offered in the text to suggest why these particular examples are seen as prehistoric and others are not. This should have been clarified within each entry.

The maps at the end of the volume do not have contours and are in black and white, limiting their effectiveness. The small scale of the maps and subsequent cluttering of areas with high densities of monuments makes any meaningful analysis of the maps difficult. Colour coding of the sites based on the monument classes used in the book would have been helpful as would larger scale maps of areas with high densities of monuments and an indication, either within each entry or on the maps, of which monuments are National Monuments.

The survey also highlights the growing problem caused by a lack of dating evidence and even rudimentary classifications for certain broad monument types, particularly hut sites and enclosures, while the fact that 17 megalithic tombs are listed as unclassified and a further 27 monuments are listed as ‘megalithic structure’ and 7 as ‘anomalous stone group’ suggests it is time to expand our classifications of megalithic monuments.

However, in general terms the volume fulfils its main function admirably, providing an up to date descriptive listing of the known monuments in the area. The large numbers of new and important monuments identified are a testament to the dedicated work of the field archaeologists involved and will provide a wealth of data for further analysis of monument distribution and settlement patterns in the area. It is particularly interesting to note the large numbers of monuments identified in uplands, an area long neglected in Irish archaeology, and it can be hoped that this will provide the impetus for a renewed interest in this area of research and survey.

The Archaeological Inventory of County Kerry Volume 1 – South-west Kerry is a most welcome addition to the inventory series. For those working in archaeology in Kerry it will become an invaluable resource and has whet the appetite for future volumes on the county’s rich archaeological heritage.

MICHAEL CONNOLLY



REFERENCES

O'Brien, W. 1999 Sacred Ground: Megalithic Tombs in Coastal South-West Ireland. Galway. National University of Ireland Galway.

O’Sullivan, A & Sheehan, J. 1996 The Iveragh Peninsula: An Archaeological Survey of South Kerry. Cork. Cork University Press.

Woodman, P.C. 2009 Ireland’s Place in the European Mesolithic: why it’s ok to be different. In McCartan, S., Schulting, R.., Warren, G. & Woodman, P. (eds.) Mesolithic Horizons – Papers Presented at the Seventh International Conference on the Mesolithic in Europe. Oxford. Oxbow Books, pp. xxxvii – xlvi.