County: Tipperary Site name: TULLAHEDY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 20:79 Licence number: 97E0472
Author: Cia Mc Conway, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Neolithic (4000BC-2501 BC)
ITM: E 583354m, N 677239m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.845828, -8.247103
The site encompasses a large mound—a sand and stone quarry—which, although it does not lie on the line of the road, has been leased out by the road project with a view to providing hard-core for their vertical drains. The line of the proposed road runs in an easterly direction, south of the mound, the interior of which has been quarried away over the centuries.
Monitoring the topsoil-stripping both along the line of the road and over the quarry revealed extensive archaeological remains, primarily post-holes, pits and linear features. The quarry has been zoned into eight areas of archaeological activity, the line of the road being another independent zone. Currently Area 2, a low-lying area along the northern face, and Area 3, an area covering the present highest point of the quarry, have been investigated. Excavations have not been completed, though it is apparent from the material culture recovered—Neolithic pottery, chert scrapers, arrowheads, flakes and debitage, along with several polished stone axes—that the site is an extensive Neolithic site. While there is currently no evidence for a structure, the finding of chert debitage would indicate that the site incorporated a working area, though a ritual or indeed multi-phase aspect cannot be excluded at this stage.
Work has been temporarily halted while discussions are ongoing between the relevant authorities in Dúchas and the Roads Scheme staff.
Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Fairview, Dublin 3
