County: Laois Site name: THE HEATH, Heath
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 93E0023
Author: Valerie J. Keeley
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 652439m, N 701833m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.064555, -7.217607
The proposed construction of the Portlaoise by-pass necessitated the investigation. The scheme is scheduled to pass through The Heath, an area of archaeological potential due to the presence of several monuments including ring barrows. Machinery was used to strip soil over a 50,000 sq m area. This was supervised by the archaeological team. The features uncovered were then fully excavated. These included charcoal spreads, pits, plough marks and over 400 stakeholes. The stakeholes formed a series of four parallel lines which crossed the area under investigation. Finds from the pits, which were located throughout the area, consisted of flint implements and waste, pottery, including sherds of Irish Grooved Ware and Cordoned Urn and carbonised grain.
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