The midden, essentially a domestic rubbish heap, had accumulated against the external wall of a house within the fortified settlement, just north of its doorway. This wasn’t just any pile of refuse; it was a carefully preserved record of what the inhabitants were eating centuries ago.

The midden itself tells a story of maritime subsistence, composed predominantly of winkle and limpet shells that speak to the community’s reliance on coastal foraging. These shellfish remains had built up over a layer of black soil mixed with small stones, where excavators made an intriguing discovery: three sherds of souterrain ware pottery. This type of ceramic, typically associated with underground storage chambers common in early medieval Ireland, helps date the site and connects it to the broader archaeological landscape of the region.

What makes this find particularly interesting is that it wasn’t alone; another midden was discovered on the northwest side of the same house, suggesting this was a designated area for waste disposal within the cashel. The excavation, led by Comber and colleagues and published in 2006, provides valuable evidence of daily life in these fortified homesteads, where communities balanced agricultural practices with the harvesting of marine resources from Donegal’s rugged coastline.