2023:823 - BELLAYARHA NORTH, Galway

The development site is located within the Zone of Notification of the recorded monument (GA970-012—) an enclosure. A previous AIA undertaken by the writer in 2020 recorded that although this monument was levelled in antiquity, examination in 1994 by the ASI recorded a fosse and the monument bisected by a field boundary running NE-SW. In the past 10 years the field boundary has been removed with ground disturbance in the E half of the monument. Field examination recorded this area as uneven ground and no surface trace of the fosse of the enclosure visible.

The archaeological pre-development testing excavations revealed features associated with the recorded monument (GA097-012—-). This monument is recorded as an enclosure however the results of the archaeological testing suggest that it is more likely to have been a an Early Bronze Age barrow. The testing recorded evidence for a fosse in the north  (Trenches C & D) and fragments of cremated human bone to the south of the fosse (Trench B).  A bone fragment submitted for radiocarbon dating yielded a result of 2120–1886 cal. BC at 95.4% probability (UBA-53639; 3612 ± 32 BP).