County: Tipperary Site name: KNOCKALTON UPPER
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 96E317-AR28
Author: James Eogan, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 589552m, N 677639m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.849578, -8.155098
A roughly circular hollow (17m east-west by 22.5m north-south) in flat pasture was identified as a potential site in the archaeological EIS of the proposed Nenagh Bypass.
A cutting 8m long and 1m wide was hand-excavated to a maximum depth of 1.9m below present ground level from the western edge of the hollow to its centre. A well-developed sod layer (max. 0.2m thick) overlay a mid-brown silty clay subsoil, 0.13m in average depth. A gully/trench was found cut into undisturbed natural 0.6m from the south-western end of the cutting; it ran across the cutting on a rough south-east/northwest axis and was filled with a uniform yellow-brown silt. Three probable postholes were found in its base, the most substantial of which was bisected by the south-eastern edge of the cutting. Its full dimensions are as yet unknown, but it was 0.15m in maximum depth and 0.1m in maximum diameter. The others were both less than 50mm in depth.
A substantial cut feature, nearly vertical in profile, was found 3.8m from the south-western end of the cutting. The upper fill of this feature, which varied from 0.7m to 1.25m in thickness, was remarkably consistent and almost identical to the layer below the sod, but it contained a higher proportion of stones. Towards the bottom of the layer it became more clayey in consistency. A layer of large subangular stones was found under this, banked up against the lower face of the cut; it was thickest (0.6m) at the face of the cut and tailed off towards the presumed centre of the feature. The stones rested directly on undisturbed natural, which formed the base of the feature.
The date and function of this feature are unknown; modern crockery was found in the topsoil and subsoil but no finds came from the fill proper. While only a limited area was excavated, no evidence was found that water ever lay in the base of the cut, nor does natural erosion or weathering of its edges seem to have taken place. Indeed, the homogeneous nature of both fill layers tends to suggest that this feature was backfilled a short rime after it had been dug. Only further excavation might indicate the date of the features found and whether they were associated with one another or not; clearly they are man-made. It may be that this site is a filled-in extraction pit which may have been surrounded by a fence, though other functions cannot be ruled out at this stage.
Power House, Pigeon House Harbour, Dublin 4
