County: Limerick Site name: ATTYFLIN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0171
Author: Ciara MacManus, c/o ADS Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 551411m, N 648400m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.584717, -8.716988
Monitoring of topsoil-stripping along the proposed route of the N20/N21 Limerick bypass resulted in the discovery of a fulacht fiadh within the townland of Attyflin, Co. Limerick. The site was c. 500m east of the N21 road, within the vicinity of a number of known areas of archaeological activity, including New Site B (c. 500m to the east), AR7 (No. 477 above, c. 2km to the south-west) and AR6 (c. 3km to the south-west).
The site survived as an elongated mound 17m long x 9m wide x 0.35m high. Excavation of the mound revealed it to be an accumulation of dump material, consisting of a mix of heat-shattered limestone stones and charcoal-rich soil, characteristic of this type of site.
A small trough was uncovered under the south-west quadrant of the mound. The trough was rectangular (2.1m long, 1m wide, 0.28m deep) and orientated north-west/south-east, with steep sides and a flat base.
Another, more substantial subsoil-cut feature was found 1.3m to the north of the trough. Excavation of this feature revealed the existence of a large, oval pit, 0.14m x 2m x 1.2m deep. The pit was orientated north-east/south-west, with the southern half appearing to have a stepped side, while the northern sides were more vertical. It had been filled by a number of deposits of burnt and shattered limestone rocks, along with a number of silt deposits. A few small fragments of animal bone were recovered from these fills, along with two fragments of wood, neither of which had been visibly worked.
Around the east edge of the pit, where the break of slope for the pit cut was gentlest, twelve stake-holes were uncovered and excavated. There was very little pattern to the stake-holes in plan, except for one possible line of double post-holes running north-south along the edge of the pit. Disturbance on the opposite side of the pit in the form of later drains meant that it was not possible to tell whether there was a corresponding set of post-holes on the west edge. However, it is suggested that these stake-holes represented the remains of either a windbreak or a structure spanning the width of the pit.
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