1989:069 - TANKARDSTOWN SOUTH, Limerick

Introduction
The aim of the excavation this season was to expose the entire ground plan of House 2, which was first discovered in 1987, and to attempt to complete the excavation of it by establishing its main structural elements. Excavation was carried out over a seven-week period between August and October 1989 and what is considered to be the entire ground plan of the house was exposed. The house interior has, however, been disturbed by two concentric Bronze Age ring-ditches which surround a central unmarked cremation pit. Both ditches, coincidently, cut across the positions of roof supports.

An electrical resistivity survey of a wide area around and between both houses was completed while excavation progressed and it had been hoped to augment the results of this exercise with a combined phosphate and visual inspection pit survey. Unfortunately, the two latter were not completed, not owing to lack of funds but to lack of suitably trained personnel during the excavation season. It is considered that such 'remote' survey is desirable prior to any further exploratory excavation on the site.

The excavation
The cutting opened during 1988 was extended westwards to expose the foundation trench fully; it had been partly exposed in two narrow cuttings during 1988 when the western internal annexe slot-trench had also been discovered. A portion of the cutting at the south was extended to join with Cutting 5 of the 1987 season in order to trace the line of the Bronze Age ring ditch revealed during 1988 and to explore an area of enigmatic features to the south of the house. A further 2m-wide extension northwards was opened at the north-east of the cutting to trace the line of the ring ditch at this side of the site.

House 2
The full extent of the house has now been exposed and a number of portions of its foundation trench have been fully excavated. Its maximum dimensions are c.15.2m x 7.4m and it is composed of a central area 9.2m long with an annexe at either end, each measuring approximately 2m in width. The foundation trench itself is generally c.5m wide and 0.4-0.45m deep with a steep-sided and flat-bottomed or gently rounded profile.

The western end of the foundation trench has no obvious break or opening and, while it was not completely excavated, burnt fill throughout indicates that it is continuous. Two portions were excavated, one at the northwest corner and one at the south-west corner; the southwestern portion had been cut through by a linear medieval ditch. Unlike the eastern end of the house where the postholes for two stout corner posts were revealed, there was no evidence at this end for such corner supports. The fabric of the western end wall must have been sufficiently strong to support the roof.

The western internal annexe foundation slot was also partly excavated. It is represented by a long slot trench and revealed the remains of charred vertical posts in situ.

Excavation of the central area concentrated on positions where obvious archaeological soils survived in cut features. The most important of these were burnt soils which were first revealed at the western edge of the outer ring ditch during the 1988 season (Excavations 1988, 24-5). As expected, these were Neolithic features, cut by the ring ditch. After excavation these features can now be interpreted as a line of internal postholes. While they had been cut and badly disturbed by the ring ditch, sufficient evidence survived to indicate that some sort of internal wall or screen existed in this area, coincidently at a distance of roughly 2m from the annexe slot.

At the eastern side of the central compartment excavation was carried out on a complex of difficult subsoil-like soils and a shallow linear feature. Excavation of the latter led to the fortuitous discovery of a second Bronze Age ring ditch, concentric to and inside the one revealed in 1988. Excavation of the ditch fill revealed two areas of disturbed Neolithic soils and stones. These have been interpreted as the disturbed, backfilled, remains of two internal postholes.

We may now consider that the 'central' compartment of the house occurred between the line of postholes at the western edge of the outer ring ditch and the eastern annexe partition, giving internal dimensions of approximately 7.5m x 7.5m with just two roof support posts.

An interesting feature of this season's excavation was the discovery, during excavation of unburnt construction backfill at the east end of the house (between the large eastern corner posts and the trench excavated in 1988), that the apparently open gaps at the north-east and south-east sides of the house had originally been excavated as a foundation trench by the builders. It would appear that (as at the entrance in House 1) the trench was first excavated and then immediately backfilled in those portions in which no timbers were to be set.

The ring ditches
Excavation continued on the outer ring ditch and both Bronze Age and Neolithic features (above) were revealed. It was traced accurately at the south and south-east of the area excavated but was more difficult to trace in the northern extension owing to the presence of disturbed soils and further Neolithic features. The material excavated and interpreted as ditch fill indicates a line which gives the outer ring ditch a slightly ovoid plan 12-15m in diameter and there was a suggestion that the portion excavated was rising to a terminal at the north-east. It appears that one of the features excavated during 1987 in Cutting 4 must represent a portion of this ditch though it may not have been fully excavated. The ditch was 1.3-1.5m wide with a varied profile which was gently flat-bottomed in some areas and more steep-sided with a rounded base elsewhere. It survived as 1.1m-1.3m deep and the profile of its fill indicated that it has been truncated.

The inner ring ditch had an external diameter of c.5m. It averaged 1m-1.2m wide and 0.6m-0.8m deep with a very varied sectional profile ranging from a steep V-section to a gently sloping U-section. It lay beneath soils which were indistinguishable from subsoil with no archaeological inclusions. These have been interpreted as upcast mound material from the outer ring ditch.

Finds
As during 1988, a range of Neolithic pottery was retrieved from the Neolithic features excavated. This year, for the first time, pottery was recovered which may represent a type of coarse ware. Flint waste flakes and quartz chips were found along with a few roughly fashioned scrapers. A portion of a polished stone axe blade was also recovered.

No artefacts were retrieved from the Bronze Age features, though a small quantity of animal bone was recovered from the fill of the internal ring ditch.

A number of sherds of medieval pottery were also recovered from the fill of the linear ditch which crossed the western end of the house.

C14 Dates
Two further uncalibrated C14 determinations were received from Groningen this year (our thanks to Jan Lanting): Grn16557 4995±20; GrN-16558 5070±20.

Conclusions
Excavation this year has provided the basic elements of the plan of House 2 and evidence for its internal layout and roof support structure. It has also revealed the full extent of Bronze Age activity within the area excavated. While it is clear that a further short season of excavation could be carried out on the site to tie up a number of, apparently small, loose ends and to continue excavation of the structure, it is felt that sufficient evidence has been retrieved to prepare the results of excavation on House 2, and the Bronze Age features, for publication. Besides, it is considered desirable to leave a portion of the structure unexcavated for future research.

The site is not threatened and should now be subject to a major, interdisciplinary project once the results to date have been published.

5. St Catherine's Road, Glenageary, Co. Dublin