County: Kerry Site name: BUNATALLOON, Tralee
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0360
Author: Jacinta Kiely, Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 483984m, N 614652m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.271310, -9.699932
Monitoring of all ground disturbance aspects of a factory site in the Monavalley Industrial Estate, in the northern part of Tralee town, was undertaken to comply with a planning condition. An area of archaeological stratigraphy was noted during topsoil-stripping and was subsequently excavated.
Four pits were excavated. One of the pits, measuring 1.6m north-south by 0.9m and 0.98m deep, was stone-lined on the south-east side. A saddle quern and a rubbing stone had been reused to line the pit. Iron slag was recovered from the upper fill. A second large pit was found 1m to the south-west; it measured 3.1m north-south by 2.7m and 0.8m deep. Two small pits were found to the south and east. They measured 0.8m north-south by 0.76m by 0.2m deep and 0.75m north-south by 0.7m by 0.15m deep.
The material recovered from one of the large pits would suggest that they are prehistoric in date. Post-excavation work is continuing.
Clover Hill, Mallow, Co. Cork
