1997:251 - TRALEE: Mounthawk 1, Kerry

Monitoring of the development of a new housing estate on the western suburbs of Tralee was undertaken and a number of potential archaeological find-spots were identified. A licence to investigate these areas was subsequently applied for. The new estate, being developed by Denis Moriarty Ltd, is located in an area known as Mounthawk, formerly a 19th-century demesne, and up until the recent past was also the old Tralee Golf Club. Prior to the development there were no monuments recorded from the site but, given the extent of the development, the NMHPS requested monitoring of all ground disturbance there. Six areas were investigated and three, located on the line of the access road, were excavated.

Area 1, a dark organic area cutting the natural, was investigated and proved to be the remains of a field ditch.

In Area 2 a linear ditch, c. 67m long, 1.6m wide and 0.5–0.8m deep, was excavated. It contained a number of fills and had been recut on its northern side. An area of metalling had been laid to the north of the ditch after the primary ditch was cut. The full length of the ditch could not ascertained as it continued westwards beyond the perimeter of the development site. Finds included a hammerstone, some possible quern fragments and a broken flint scraper. The scraper, although prehistoric, did not display enough diagnostic features to be clearly assigned to a specific period.

Area 3 measured 8m x 6m. Some 40m east of the ditch two cremation burials, C5 and C6, were recorded in close proximity to each other. Burial 1 (C5) was a very simple, shallow, truncated pit which had cut into the natural. Burial 2 (C6) was very severely truncated, with only the basal remains of the pit in situ. Neither of these burials displayed any above-ground manifestations to indicate their likely presence. Both pits contained a good representation of parts of a single human skeleton. Five sherds of coarseware pottery were recovered from one of the cremations; initial examination has tentatively assigned them to the Late Bronze Age.

Two large pits, C14 and C46, were located adjacent to the cremations. They were separated by a narrow saddle of natural material which had been cut by an earlier, narrow slot-trench. The south-west face of C46 was lined with burnt wood. Sandstone fragments, which included a broken saddle quern, formed part of the burnt fill of the pit.

Area 4 measured 12m x 15m. Further archaeological activity was located 20m north-west of the cremations and included a large pit at the edge of a spread of white clay. The base and sides of the pit were burnt. The fill included moderate to frequent amounts of burnt sandstone fragments; no other artefacts were recovered from it.

Areas 5 and 6 proved to be non-archaeological features and were not proceeded with.

The evidence suggests that Areas 2 and 3 are contemporary. Radiocarbon dates will, hopefully, help to establish the contemporaneity, if any, of Area 4 and will also date the period more precisely.

Tree ring
A subcircular tree ring feature at the entrance to the development site was investigated to establish whether it might have been a modified ring-barrow. It is enclosed by a low earthen bank to the north and east. Its western limits were destroyed by quarrying activity in the last century. Well-established trees delineate the feature. Four areas were excavated.

Area 7 (12m x 2m): A brown silt loam underlay the sod and overlay an outcrop of natural limestone and also the bank, which was a modern feature. A linear feature cutting the natural underlay the bank. Four stake-holes cut the natural between the external edge of the mound and the internal edge of the bank. Four undiagnostic pieces of flint were recovered from the bank. An unimpressive flat stone axe was found on the surface.

Area 8 (10m x 2m): A silt clay underlay the sod and overlay the limestone outcrop. The bank was not recorded here.

Area 9 (5m x 1.5m): The features and stratigraphy of this area were the same as in Area 7, except that no stake-holes were present.

Area 10 (1.5m x 1.5m) was located in the centre of the feature. A sandy silt underlay the sod. Beneath was a voiding black loam which was composed of c. 60% shattered (quarried) limestone fragments. This spread overlay the natural limestone outcrop.

The mound appears to be modern, and the accumulation of material on it suggests possibly two attempts to conceal the quarry which truncates the feature to the west (i.e. the establishing of the tree ring in the 19th century and its later reuse as a golfing green). Certainly some form of archaeological activity is manifest in the evidence but it is most likely that the finds and other material were brought to the site from some other location. Further work is anticipated at the site.

43 Ard Carraig, Tralee, Co. Kerry