County: Limerick Site name: PROSPECT HILL, Killaculla
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Martin Doody, Dept. of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: Cist and Field Systems
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 516368m, N 647745m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.574575, -9.233837
A cist grave was uncovered close to the summit of Prospect Hill, approximately three miles east of Glin, Co. Limerick, during land reclamation in the early summer of 1989. A rescue excavation, financed by the Office of Public Works, was carried out at the site for a three-week period during the month of September. The cist, which was short and roughly rectangular in plan, had been badly disturbed prior to the excavation. It was devoid of bone or other finds. The landowner's account of the initial discovery indicates that no bone was observed at that time. A possible second cist was recorded a short distance from the first and was also devoid of finds.
During the land reclamation several stretches of pre-bog field walls were uncovered. These were planned and a section was taken through one example.
Several small cairns measuring c.5m in diameter were noted on the hillside. While some were probably field clearance cairns and of relatively recent date, at least one example had been covered by peat growth prior to the land reclamation. Initial examination of this cairn has produced a fragment of a hone stone.
