lntroduction Bullaun stonesare one of those classicIrish archaeologicalmonuments that everyone knows about, many have seen,but few have really thought about in any seriousway, largelybecauseof their seeminglyenigmatic function. They are basically scoops or hollows in large stones, tlpically lacking any fill or context that might betray their functions. My interest in the role-or multiple roles-of bullauns in the past was piqued when reading a recent article in Archaeology Ireland(Autumn 2008)by Matt Kelleherand Caimin O'Brienwhich discussedsomestone basins,cut into bedrock underlying peat in Meelaghan, Co. Offaly, that look very similar to stone mortars used for grinding grain in a number of Native American cultures. The authors suggestedthat these features do not fit into the traditional 'a single understanding of bullauns as depression found in association with an ecclesiasticalsite' and should be classified separatelyas 'bedrock mortars', implying a use in food production. What struck me, howevet, was how similar these stonesalso are to mortars for grinding iron ores that I have seen in the archaeological literature. The idea of bullaun stonesbeing used for the crushing of metallic ores is not new but it has been in favour overlookedby Irish archaeologists on the focusing of interpretations or on grains, nuts and seeds processingof Further religious/ritual explanations. researchmade clear that associationswith early metalworkingmay be significant for at least a subsetof bullaun stonesand, more importantly, that this could be tested through both excavationand survey.
AND BEDROCKS more than BULLAUNS: one usefor a mortar? hasaffectedthe Brian Dolanwonderswhethercomplacency of bullauns. interoretation
16
Previous research The seeminglyintractablenature of bullaun stoneshas meant that few have thought to study them, let alone define or systematically analyse them. Hypotheses regardingtheir function have changedlittle since they were first identified in the late nineteenth century, and the last maior article on the topic, publishedby Liam Price exactly 50 years ago, still awaits an update (although significant work has been carried out recentlyby David McGuinnessaspart of a doctoral project in UCD). There is a general acceptance, based on their Archaeology lreland Spring 2009
BULLAUNS
Oppositepage:Bullaunstonefrom Glendalough, Co.Wicklow(photo:Terry O'Hagan). hollowsfrom Right:Conicalore-crushing AlMugharetal Warda,Jordan(photo:Yosha Amri).
consistent association with early ecclesiastical sites,that the stonesdate from the early medieval period, but problems of definition, classification and dating still remain. Possibly the most crucial issue in the study of bullaun stones has been the unverifiable nature of the most popular theoriesabout their use.This is due to a lack of relevant historical sources and the ephemeralnature of many of the activities that havebeenassociatedwith them. Owing to this lack of evidence,interpretations of bullaun stones have relied heavily on folklore as well as ethnographic and historical analogy. The use of 'knocking stones'in Scotland and Ulster in the early modern period for pounding barley and oats, combined with ethnographic and historical examples of similar stone-cut basins from across the world being used for food production, have provided the best argument for bullaun stoneshaving a similar use in lreland. Peter Harbison has convincingly linked somebullaun stonesin the Dingle Peninsula with pilgdmage as part of a package of remainsassociated with earlypilgrim routes. The association of many bullaun stones with ecclesiasticalsitescertainly appearsto point to some form of religious context for their use,but evidenceof metalworking on many church sites, such as Clonfad, Co. Westmeath, or Clonmacnoise, Co. Offaly, may point to an underlying industrial cause for the association.This might also explain the occurrence of bullauns in isolated locations and in associationwith secular sites.Other interpretations of the bullauns as cursing stones, as having curative associationsor asbaptismalfonts have been based on a mixture of conjecture and folklore. Little or no direct evidencefor their use, or indeed their date, has been found, and this has forced a reliance on analogy and speculation. Archaeology lreland Spring 2009
Bullaunsand metallurgy Very little is knorrm about the extraction or processingof metallic oresin early medieval Ireland. It is clear, both from the archaeologicalevidenceand the texts,that a variety of metals, particularly iron and copper,were mined, processedand smelted on a fairly regularbasis.No mines from the period have beenidentified archaeologically but they are mentioned in the law-tracts. Ore,once extracted,is usually processed,i.e. broken up into smaller pieces,sorted and, depending on the ore, roasted prior to smelting.A versein tl:teDindsenchas of Ailln Cobthaigspecificallymentions the crushing of ore by the Sil mBuinne of Bantry after it was quarried; unfortunately it is not clear whether this took place at the site of extraction or elsewhere. The crushingand sorting of ore, termed beneficiation,is necessaryin almost all cases prior to smelting. Methods of crushingvary from the use of simple stone hammers to the rolling of hear,ybouldersover ore spread on a flat rock. Two methods known from India result in stone basins or depressions very similar to those classifiedas bullaun stones in lreland. Crushing ore on flat boulders or rock outcrops using hand-held hammers or pestles produces a shallow depressionwhich, upon reachinga depth of c. 10cm, begins to abradefingertips as well as ore, resulting in stones with multiple
depressions on their surface. Another method, used in Rajasthan, involves the creation of large mortars, c. 5Ocm in diameterand 50cm deep,for the crushingof silver-leadoreswith large iron or iron-shod pestles.Similar mortars, in an outcrop of bedrock associatedwith a Byzantine or medieval iron-mine, have recently been identified in Jordan. Normally, beneficiationis carriedout in or close to a mine or extraction site, although in the caseof bog ore waterlogged conditions may have necessitated processing elsewhere. The smelting site, which could sometimeshave been adjacent to the ore source,may have seen further grinding of ore, depending on the metal being extractedand the smelting technique used. Smelting sites are also often located close to sourcesof fuel, population centres or in sociallyprescribedareas. Superficially at least, an obvious analogycan be dranrnbetweenIrish bullaun stones and the ore-crushing mortars discussed,but, crucially, there is also archaeologicalevidence to support the comparison.Some of the most convincing evidencecomes from Gallen Priory, where Kendrick found an ironworking area with deeppits of iron slagand burnt earth and a huge stone slab over 2mIong. The slab had a 'basin' 50cm in diameter 'scooped'out of it, which the excavator presumed was for 17
"*,, , 4{l:,, pW";'r1,
.,::ii
::l'
,/y.
-
i'i
fi.:...,;,,.r, ft,,;,",, :r.
,,'.',,,.',.,'a,:*, ':,.a
|
,':L
' ::11:
U)tt.
,llrr, .:a,rt :::l.l: ,lu :,:r, q.,ar
.a. :ll;1::,,.:.;:,,
. . -::
lr.,
i:
.r.:).r'
.|,.
.:,,.,
ry@FFea #
.:' :] '"" ;)aa.
'W.
"...
ifu::::':':ii,,,.','it.'%,*-,,,
i*.' t&.'
r*
t .,' .a :,. lti{.4t
'
:.r.ti
...ilI 'E
,/ -: :.,ii
ffi ? -i'_
2,, ...... ..,':a,l': ...,.,',, l:,
# l,,it.
l
lr -'
:. ri.
lrr,l
t:/: l:/:i.:
...,.
-
ta 'it:
ta:tt,:i.,:1'
'
i!:. '"',
..)
..::!ri
.,.,.....91Y.:.
l
w"
..:,a.:. -.,.,tt1:1., a.:r:.
'$
.',,, ..,..,:..,....::iii::.
ig
..::-
.-- ,::::;li:::.;;l:t . -
,,:l
" .j!!,,:,:
%,'*,*g*,-; e9
gfl
..
:::...
.a' ,. .
BULLAUNS
" !.,,:r
which was interpreted as a potential bullaun owing to an artificial depression on its surface. Cut into the fill of the pit was a possible furnace or hearth bottom lined with a dense layer of charcoal and slag. Less direct evidence for the association of stone mortars with metalworking comes from the hut site of Glannafeen, Co. Cork, likely to date from the Iron Age or the early medieval period. A spur of bedrock running through the hut, which contained a stonelined iron-smelting furnace, had a circular bullaun-like hollow shown on the plan but not discussedin the text. At Drumnakill, Co. Antrim, an early church site, E. E. Evans noted a large bullaun cut into a flat dolerite block and surrounded by large amounts of iron slag. More circumstantial evidence comes from sites like St Gobnet's House, Balllwourney, or Clonmacnoise, Co. Offaly, where both metalworking and bullaun stones are recorded but with no direct associations.
Testingthe theory The evidence outlined above is very suggestive but not conclusive. The obvious next step is to identify a representative group of bullaun stones in a landscape for a systematic suwey, involving geophysics and group test-pit excavation. The at Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, Iocated in a mineral-rich area, is an obvious candidate. For example, a magnetometry suwey carried out in the vicinity of the bullauns, but also critically further away as a control, could Archaeology
lreland Spring 2009
detect the remains of smelting operations: ores, roasting pits, slag, hearths and furnaces. This could be followed up by excavation to investigate the character of any anomalies. Further studies could extend the scope of such investigations to other sites, such as those not associated with ecclesiasticalor monastic complexes. If there is a spatial link between bullaun stones and extraction sites then these stones may provide signposts for locating previously unknown mines-and, in the case of bog ore deposits, long-destroyed bogs. This would be particularly true of bullauns in primary locations, such as the 'bedrock mortars' proposed by Kelleher and O'Brien. Conclusion Bullaun stones have been known and researched since the nineteenth century and it is perhaps this long history that has led to complacency in their study. In reality, the 'bullaun', as used by Irish term generic one, archaeologists, is a incorporating any hemispherical hollow in a large stone not demonstrably prehistoric or natural. It is very likely that the various depressions we characterise as bullauns include monuments that do not share a single chronology or function. It is hoped that this article has offered not only a potential use for some bullauns but also some plausible evidence and a direction for future study. Further work on the classification and definition of bullauns
Above left: Possiblebullaun stone from the Carrick, Loch Lomond, Scotland (photo courtesyof DavidSneddon). Above:Ore-crushingmortar from Bofeenaun,Co. Mayo. and sub-types such as bedrock mortars, as well as characterisation according to their location, may provide new insights into their place in early medieval society and economy. There is clearly potential to progress from arguments relying on folklore, analogy and conjecture to explanations based on archaeological realitiesand methodologies.
Acknowledgements Thanks to Dr Aidan O'Sullivan and Maureen Doyle for advice and comments on previous drafts. Thanks also to David Sneddon, TErry O'Hagan, Conor McDermott and Dr Yosha Al-Amri for providing images. Finally, thanks to the IRCHSS and the National University of Ireland for funding my Ph.D research. I
References Craddock,P.T. 1995 Earlymetalminingand production.EdinburghUniversity Press. 1939 Gallen Priory Kendrick, T.D. excavations, 1934-5.loumaloftheRoyal Societyof Antiquariesof lreland 69, I-20. Price,L. 1959 Rock-basins, or'bullauns',at Glendalough and elsewhere.loumal of theRoyalSocietyof Antiquariesof Ireland 89, 161-88. 19