County: Limerick Site name: ATTYFLIN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0291 ext.
Author: Audrey Gahan, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 551960m, N 649145m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.591460, -8.708997
This site was previously tested at the assessment stage of the Adare-Annacotty N20/N21 road scheme (Excavations 1997, 111). It was identified as a burnt mound. As the road will destroy the site, full excavation took place during the summer of 1998.
The mound measures c. 15m x 13m and is slightly crescent-shaped. It was constructed of layers of heat-shattered stone, within charcoal-stained soils. Within the hollow area of the crescent, roughly on the northern side of the mound, a trough was uncovered. This measured c. 4m east-west and was 3.2m at its widest north-south. The trough was shelved or stepped, being 0.4m below present ground level, dropping to 0.7m at its deepest.
The area surrounding the burnt mound, along the line of the road, was mechanically stripped of topsoil to investigate whether there were any associated structures. A random scatter of postholes or small pits was uncovered, which did not appear to form any structure or pattern. It is most likely that they belong to the phase of activity of the burnt mound.
No artefacts that could date the site were uncovered, but it is most likely of Bronze Age date.
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