Fossil in Shale
Roughan Hill, County Clare
A kidney shaped stone enclosure surrounds the remains of several structures at Roughan Hill today. The site was discovered in 1994 during the course of an intensive survey, aimed at finding settlements contemporary with the many surrounding wedge shaped tombs.
The central structure of settlement 1 was excavated in 1995, and the Beaker pottery found then confirmed that this site was contemporary with the wedge tombs.
In the Final Neolithic\Early Bronze Age there was a busy farming community on Roughan Hill consisting of several settlements. Finds date from c2400-2000 BC.
Shale does not occur naturally on Roughan Hill, so this fossil appears to have been brought to Settlement 1. It may have been a curio, or it may have been regarded as having supernatural power.
Ref: 95E61:124
National
Museum of Ireland, Irish Antiquities Division Collection
Roughan Hill Collection
Photograph appears courtesy of the National Museum of Ireland
