County: Tipperary Site name: KNOCKALTON
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0320
Author: Paul Logue, ADS Ltd.
Site type: Habitation site
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 589109m, N 677583m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.849066, -8.161672
An assessment was undertaken at this site on 9 September 1997 on behalf of Tipperary Co. Council, in advance of the N52 Nenagh Bypass road construction scheme. The excavation was carried out by machine, using a toothless bucket. Three trenches were excavated, measuring 10m x 1.5m (Trench 1), 15m x 1.5m (Trench 2) and 20m x 1.5m (Trench 3). All three trenches were orientated approximately north–south. A total of 67.5m2 was excavated.
In Trenches 1 and 2 the yellow-brown natural was overlain by an archaeologically sterile red-brown clay. This was, in turn, overlain by a brown loam topsoil.
Within Trench 3 one subsoil-cut feature was uncovered. This measured 2.3m north–south x 1m east–west, and had a maximum depth of 0.44m. It most likely represents a shallow pit with a possible central posthole. The possible posthole contained a different fill than the upper portion of the pit. The upper fill seemed to represent a more loam-rich variant of the layer above. The feature is of an unknown date at present, owing to an absence of artefactual evidence and an almost negligible presence of charcoal. It was located at a distance of approximately 60m from a bivallate rath (AR 27). Therefore the possibility may exist that the pit dates from the early medieval period. The feature was overlain by the red-brown clay previously identified in Trenches 1 and 2. This red-brown clay was archaeologically sterile and most likely represents an older ploughsoil. It was overlain by a brown loam topsoil.
Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Fairview, Dublin 3
