The Western Stone Forts Project

The Western Stone Forts Project was initiated to study a distinctive group of large stone forts located along the western seaboard of Ireland. The majority of these forts are concentrated on the Aran Islands County Galway, in the Burren Co. Clare and on the Dingle and Iveragh peninsulas Co. Kerry. Excavations associated with the project were…

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Clay mould of knife from Dun Aonghasa, find no. 746.

Creator: The Discovery Programme

Identifier: WSFP_V03_FIG_0746

Type: Image

Format: L.45mm; W.24mm (mould); W.9mm (matrix at tang); T.9mm

Piece with tang and shoulder of blade. The top of the tang is complete and the edge rounded. The outer wrap does not quite extend to the top and projects slightly, as if to make a seat for a pouring gate. A groove runs down the centre of the matrix, starting halfway down the tang and extending on to the blade. Both contact faces slope down from the matrix edge to the mould edge, although this is less pronounced on one side. The matrix, like that of 1246, is dished in cross-section. These two factors, in particular the angle of the contact faces, make it unlikely that 746 and 1246 come from matching valves. The matrix on the latter is also slightly wider

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