County: Limerick Site name: DOONMOON (BGE)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Christine Tarbett
Site type: Ring-ditch
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 569556m, N 630649m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.426488, -8.447620
This site was identified prior to construction as a low, oval mound. It lay 5m outside the planned corridor at that time and for this reason was not excavated. However, during construction the contractors took a very much wider area of easement than originally planned. By the time the area was monitored removal of topsoil had started. The area was cordoned off, but a second grading of the easement area included the archaeological site, in spite of the markers placed there. (This was the only occasion that our markers were ignored in this fashion by the machine driver.) As a result of the second grading the site was severely truncated.
The surviving features included a ring-ditch enclosing a roughly circular area 6.35m x 6.20m (external diameter). The ditch was 60cm-1m wide and 14-25cm deep. One cremation pit was revealed almost abutting the inner ditch edge on the south-west side of the enclosed area. It is possible that the centre of the mound may have contained pits also but removal of the topsoil and subsequent grading may well have completely removed these. The remaining pit survived to just 18cm in depth and measured 40cm x 60cm. It was filled with what can only be described as bone meal which could not be identified.
Two pits lay a little over 5m west of the ring-ditch. One contained the shattered sherds of at least six different Beaker pots. The second may have been a kiln pit.
The pit containing the pottery was 40cm x 35cm and survived to only 13cm in depth. The pottery recovered from it was densely packed in almost telescopic fashion and had been severely mashed by the weight of the bulldozer tracks.
The kiln pit had a teardrop-shaped plan measuring c. 70cm in diameter, with an extended neck 60cm long which narrowed to 21cm. After removal of the several deposits of fill, a channel was found to extend from the neck into the base of the pit, forming a possible drafting flue. Several small sherds of Beaker pottery were recovered from the upper fill, which also contained some large, though disturbed stones.
These pits must be regarded as having a domestic or industrial function and may therefore be unrelated to the burial ritual which occurred in association with the use of the ring-barrow.
5 St Catherine's Rd, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
