Reporting Excavations at Ferriter\'s Cove

¶ … Reporting

excavations at ferriter'S COVE (1983-1995)

The objective of this work is to summarize and critique the sampling strategies/excavation methods and finds analyses of the publication entitled: "Excavations at Ferriter's Cove, 1983-95" (Dublin, Wordwell)

"Excavations at Ferriter's Cove, 1983-95: last foragers, first farmers in the Dingle Peninsula" reports excavations of what is likely to be "the westernmost prehistoric settlement in Europe: the site of Ferriter's Cove, Cork, Ireland." (Marek, 2002)

The excavations took place between 1983 and 1995 under the skilled directorial control of Peter Woodman and his colleagues. The Ferriter's Cove location is termed to be a "…landmark in archaeological research in southwest Ireland, and, in its more synthetic chapters, it is a valuable contribution to two themes of general interest: the behavioral interpretation of human activities from archaeological residues, and the debate about the character of the Irish Mesolithic and its contribution to the Neolithic in Ireland." (Marek, 2002)

I. Archaeological Finds

According to Woodman and his colleagues in the notes section of the introduction reporting the excavations, knowledge had been gained that held there was jot a stone age settlement in the greatest part of Cork and Kerry…" however, the excavations at Ferriter's Cove had therefore extended evidence for human settlement in this part of Ireland." (Woodman and Anderson, in Marek, 2002)

Forming the matrix of the site were "dunes and shell-middens on a rocky platform extending over 40 m between the shore and cliff edge, probably a more extensive occupation of the coastal habitat." (Woodman and Anderson, Woodman and Anderson, in Marek, 2002) Found in the excavations were:

(1) Animal bones;

(2) Sorted shell fragments;

(3) Human remains;

(4) Chipped and polished stone tools; and (5) Burned hazelnuts. (Woodman and Anderson, in Marek, 2002)

All of these were stated to be found in close proximity to what apparently was the center of a "…wide range of features mainly associated with burning and tool reduction." (Woodman and Anderson, in Marek, 2002)

II. Activities Include Sorting

It is related that Ferriter's Cove "emerges as a palimpsest of discrete activities carried out during limited phases of occupation, during which inshore resources were utilized, mostly in late summer and autumn…" and that the features these activities produced at Ferriter's Cove include shell dumps (sorted by species according to:

(1) Mussels,

(2) Cockles,

(3) Limpets,

(4) dog-whelks, and (5) periwinkles) as well as deposits of animal bone, remains of fish and hazelnut shells, roasting pits and burnt platforms of fire-cracked rock along with hearth remains and less formal lenses of burning (firespots), shallow pits and post holes suggesting drying racks or similar structures, rather than dwelling remains." (Woodman and Anderson, in Marek, 2002)

Woodman and Anderson relate that the inhabitants of Ferriter's Cove by all appearances were individuals that were "…a tidy and domesticated folks, judged by the categorical sorting of things evidenced at the site." The question remains as to whether "these episodes together represent intentional, structured deposition, following some cognitive rules of behavior, reflecting perhaps beliefs about dirt and purity, or other social and ideological notions? (Woodman and Anderson, in Marek, 2002)

III. Identification of Site Utility

Woodman and Anderson state alternatively and much more likely to be practicable is that these sites are "…residues of 'histories of occupation', i.e. people sorting and cleaning away debris, re-using the area, producing and dumping more residues, all this resulting in graded dumps of different sizes and composition, depending on the palimpsest of activities occurring at the spot and on their duration…" however it is related that there is the possibility that these might be representative of "both, practical and the cognitive dimensions?" (Woodman and Anderson, in Marek, 2002)

IV. Questions Left Unanswered

Also examined are issues of a broader nature making comparison on an inter-regional basis of the occurrence of farming transitions and it is related that the presence of Mesolithic age remains are noted at Ferriter's Cove however it is noted that it is held that "...coastal and riverine distribution of known Mesolithic settlement does not support the theory of plant-based diet. This is stated to be "very puzzling" since it has been demonstrated over and again that "it was precisely the water-edge habitats including lake shores, river banks and coasts that would support the greatest diversity and density of edible plants." (Woodman and Anderson, in Marek, 2002)

The last section of this work in writing addresses domesticated farm animal and farming being introduced into the society of the Mesolithic communities and discusses two explanations which are mutually exclusive:

(1) Acculturation of Mesolithic communities through the adoption of farming; or (2) Immigration by Neolithic farmers from (probably) Britain (Woodman and Anderson, in Marek, 2002)

It is the last of these two views which Woodman and colleagues adhere to and the evidence seems to indicate that even that answer is too simplistic since Ireland is actually an island that is quite large and that is characterized by variability in its cultural history which means that what might hold true in one location of the island of Ireland might not hold true in another location on the very same island of Ireland. Additionally increasing the complexity is adding the fact that Woodman holds that there is not an overlap of the Mesolithic and Neolithic settlement, yet he still allows for up to 500 conventional or calibrated radiocarbon years of coexistence between Mesolithic foragers and Neolithic farmers..." (Woodman and Anderson, in Marek, 2002)