An extensive tidal weir complex close to Barna and a late medieval quay on Mutton Island have become the latest in a series of recent archaeological finds in Galway Bay.
The finds are “transforming our knowledge” of a “neglected aspect” of Connacht’s maritime history, according to Connemara archaeologist Michael Gibbons.
The tidal weir complex in Rusheen Bay, to the west of the city, is visible at low tide and appears as a series of stone rapids across a fast-flowing tidal race mouth, Gibbons says.
It is not far from the location of the earliest discovery to date in that area – the 6,000-year-old Barna boat which has been conserved for display at Galway Atlantaquaria in Salthill.
A barrier of “granite erratics” at the weir complex has been adapted by hand, with several large channels cut through an 80-metre-wide band of rock.
Click here to read this article from the Irish Times
