Tag Archives: dig

TWO artefacts were uncovered following a week-long archaeological dig at Quin Friary but the significance of what was unearthed and the structures beneath the surface will not be known for a number of months. A musket ball and a pipe bowl were unearthed at two separate trenches at the Friary, which is locally known as Quin Abbey. Although there is no date for the musket ball, an early 17th century date has been assigned to the pipe bowl. The dig musket ball was uncovered in the soil from a trench which revealed remnants of the old castle ditch. One of the two archaeologists over the dig, Joe McCooey said, “We have other things to work on. We have to process everything. We have to do a lot of post-excavation work, so we will step back and see. We should have some further information for the public in three or four months time”. He said it is hoped to hold an …

AN American apprentice archaeologist, who flew in from Ohio to participate in the archaeological dig at Quin Friary earlier this week, has uncovered the first artefact, a clay pipe that dates back to 1628. Jenny Sacher from Cleveland, Ohio, has worked with archaeologists Joe McCooey and Graham Hull previously at Caherconnell and when she heard that they would be conducting a dig at the well-known historical site in Quin, she offered to volunteer. Mr McCooey said the find was made in trench one, where they believe there are remnants of a road and house. “It is a very small old-fashioned clay pipe. The size of the bowl suggests the date. Clay pipes are very well documented and we can narrow them down through the years in a sequence. We have drawings of other clay pipes that we take our references from and we found that pipe in the sequence and that’s how we got the 1628 date. We only have …