County: Limerick Site name: KNOCKADOON HILL, Lough Gur
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Rose M. Cleary, Dept. of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: Habitation site
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 564358m, N 640847m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.517831, -8.525148
The excavation was funded by the Royal Irish Academy and carried out in June and July. The 1988 season completes the excavation at this location. The results indicate that the site was in use over a period of time extending from perhaps the Early to the Later Bronze Age.
The site produced evidence for at least three post-built structures. The earliest of these was circular in plan with a diameter of c..5m. There are indications that there may have been internal stake-built divisions. A rectangular house was also recorded at the same location but it appears to have been stratigraphically later. A hearth was associated with this house. Both structures were covered by a cherty layer which provided a useful stratigraphic key to the site.
The cherty layer partially underlay a deliberately constructed platform which occupied the southern end of the site. A substantial layer of burnt limestone/sandstone abutted this platform edge and also overlay the cherty layer. This burnt limestone/sandstone layer contained significant quantities of animal bone and Lough Gur Class II pottery. A radiocarbon date indicates a Later Bronze Age date for the deposition of this layer.
The principal features on the platform were an occupation layer which produced animal bones and pottery and an oval post built-structure. The post built structure was c.6m in diameter.
This season's excavation also recorded two new burials. Prior to this season, three stone lined graves which contained mainly infant burials had been found. A further inhumed infant burial was recorded in 1988 in a shallow pit. A flexed inhumed burial, which appears to be a juvenile, was also recorded. This burial was overlain by the cherty layer and may be one of the earlier features of the site, contemporary with one of the earlier timber built structures. Associated finds included burnt flint flakes and a polished greenstone chip similar to an axe-chip. The soil underneath the burial was oxidised to a bright red which suggests the burial pit may have been ritually purified.
The site has now produced evidence for at least three post-built structures; four stone lined graves, three of which had infant burials; two inhumed burials in pits and skull fragments of a third also in a pit; and unassociated pits and postholes.
