During excavations in 2001 under licence 01E0838, researchers from University College Cork and the University of Newcastle investigated two sites where these prehistoric refuse heaps had survived between the field boundary and the cliff face. At Site 1, the team placed four test pits across a 25-metre-long, five-metre-wide strip of midden material that had somehow escaped both agricultural destruction and coastal erosion. The excavations revealed layers of oyster shells up to 20 centimetres thick, with patches of periwinkles scattered throughout, and intriguingly, traces of burning beneath the shell deposits.

The investigation suggests these modest surviving patches represent mere fragments of what was likely a much more extensive midden complex. Whilst the field side had been obliterated by centuries of farming, the seaward edge continues to crumble away with ongoing cliff erosion. A second, similar deposit of oyster shells, designated Site 2, was documented about 50 metres further west, displaying comparable thickness and composition to its neighbour.

Radiocarbon dating of shell samples sent to Beta Analytic laboratories yielded a measured age of 5360 ± BP, placing these middens firmly within Ireland’s Mesolithic period. These shell heaps offer a tangible connection to the hunter-gatherer communities who once inhabited this stretch of Donegal coastline, their discarded oyster and periwinkle shells now serving as archaeological evidence of prehistoric coastal exploitation and dietary habits. The presence of burning beneath the middens hints at more complex site usage, possibly indicating cooking areas or temporary camps associated with shellfish processing activities.