Tramore Burrow

Here in the sand dunes of Tramore beach is the site of a Prehistoric Cooking Area/Refuse Dump which is known archaeologically as a Midden.

Lactated at the isthmus connecting the Burrow Island sand dunes with a sand pit, is a large area of broken and burnt shells in a black matrix.

The area measures 12 metres N-S and 8 meters E-W. In the shelter of dunes, this is where the first settlers of  Tramore lived some 10,000 years ago.

This was their cooking area, known today as a kitchen midden.

Obviously, the settler’s diet would have been predominately of seafood but in such middens burnt bones of Oxen, Goats and those of the extinct Great Auk have also been found.

The burnt shells of the Midden

Directions: From the east end of the Promenade in Tramore, walk eastwards along the beach towards the tall sand dunes.

The walk is about 2km till you reach the isthmus and the site which is easily visible in a hollow in the dunes.

Click for Aardvark Map

Other sites in this area - Tramore West standing stone, Pickardstown