1999:340 - BALLYVELLY, Tralee, Kerry

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Kerry Site name: BALLYVELLY, Tralee

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0615

Author: Emer Dennehy, Eachtra Archaeological Projects

Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous

Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)

ITM: E 481963m, N 613800m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.263227, -9.729227

Monitoring of the ground disturbance activities associated with the construction of a new housing development on the outskirts of Tralee town was undertaken in October 1999. During the monitoring six areas of archaeological potential were identified and excavated.

In Area I the trench measured 7m north-south by 5m and was excavated in the rear garden area of House 10. The western limits of the archaeology were heavily truncated by the erection of ESB pylons, and the northern features were truncated through the excavation of the site boundary wall. The excavation highlighted an area of intense activity consisting predominantly of north-south linear arrangements of slot-trenches, posts and stake-holes, with occasional small pits. There is no defined structural pattern, although the large southern slots and posts indicate that it may have been quite substantial. Most of the features excavated produced bone and charcoal, with occasional flint objects and fragments of quernstones also retrieved. The evidence indicates a single-phase structure with limited repairs. Numerous stray finds were retrieved from the surface of the western disturbance by the ESB.

In Area II the trench measured 6m east-west by 4m and was opened along the western boundary of House 10. Because of the location of the trench, a large number of the features could be excavated in section only. The main features were a large pit and a linear furnace. The pit measured c. 3.85m north-south and was 1.1m deep. The fill was quite homogeneous, and the pit was cut to bedrock. A Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age arrowhead was retrieved from the base of the pit. The pit cuts several east-west slots.

The most visible feature was a linear furnace heavily truncated by topsoil removal and foundation excavation. However, similar features excavated by Laurence Dunne elsewhere in the same townland (Excavations 1998, 96–7, 98E0240) produced an Iron Age date and appear to have been funerary in function. Several post-holes and stakes surrounded the general area of the furnace, functioning either as spits or as a superstructure.

The Area III trench measured 3m north-south by 3m and was in the western part of House 8. The archaeology in this area consisted solely of a subcircular charcoal-enriched spread delineated by a circular setting of fractured limestone.

The Area IV trench measured 4m north-south by 4m and was in the rear garden area of House 8. The archaeology in this area consisted of two large but shallow stake-holes.

In Area V the trench measured 4m north-south by 4m and was in the rear garden area of House 9. The archaeology in this area consisted of one small, isolated pit, and three large, intercut pits, averaging 1m deep. The fills of the intercut pits were quite homogeneous, although the northern pit produced two distinct deposits of sheep/goat bones.

In Area VI the trench measured 2m north-south by 3m and was in the central part of House 5. A single archaeological feature, a truncated bowl furnace, was excavated in this area.

3 Canal Place, Tralee, Co. Kerry