Souterrain, Leataoibh Mór, Co. Kerry

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Settlement Sites

Souterrain, Leataoibh Mór, Co. Kerry

At the foot of the western slopes of Lateevemore in County Kerry, a small waterlogged hollow hints at something buried beneath the ground.

Just a metre across and flooded to at least half a metre deep, it is thought to possibly mark the entrance to a souterrain, an underground stone-lined passage or chamber typically built during the early medieval period as a place of storage, refuge, or concealment. What lies below, if anything, remains unconfirmed.

The site sits within a univallate rath called Lisgortcam, or Lios Gort Cam in Irish, a type of enclosed farmstead defined by a single earthen or stone bank and ditch, common across Ireland from roughly the sixth to the twelfth century. The rath occupies the lower western slopes of Lateevemore, and its western sector contains an irregularly-shaped stony ridge or bank rising to about half a metre. Its origin is not known. The possible souterrain entrance was recorded as part of the Corca Dhuibhne archaeological survey of the Dingle Peninsula, published in 1986 by J. Cuppage under the auspices of Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne. That survey catalogued hundreds of sites across one of the most archaeologically dense landscapes in Ireland, and this modest flooded hollow earned its place among them, tentative identification and all.

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