County: Limerick Site name: DROMINYCARRA
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Sarah McCutcheon, Limerick County Council
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 559984m, N 642988m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.536775, -8.589849
Limerick County Council undertook a sewerage scheme for the village of Fedamore. The planning conditions for this scheme included archaeological monitoring for any ground disturbance. The burnt spreads at Drominycarra were detected during the course of monitoring in relation to this scheme.
The burnt spread at Site A consisted of a compact layer of heat-shattered stone and charcoal within blackened, carbonised clay. It incorporated an area measuring 8m east–west x 5m and had an average depth of 0.15m. An oval, unlined trough, 2.3m north–south x 2m x 0.15m (depth), cut the natural clays on site. A small gully diverted the flow of ground-water from a dip in the boulder clay to the trough. Two isolated pits were also uncovered at either end of the site, to the north and south.
The burnt spread at Site B was irregular in plan, measuring 9m north-east/south-west x 8m, with an average depth of 0.15m, within the excavated area. The spread extended beyond the limit of excavation to the east and west. The burnt material was, however, tapering out towards the western limit of excavation. A shallow, truncated pit associated with the spread may have originally functioned as a trough. This feature was oval in plan and unlined. It measured 1.3m north–south x 1m x 0.11m (depth). A layer of compact, grey-brown subsoil covered the site. A piece of struck flint was excavated from the subsoil. This layer and the burnt spread were both cut by two modern land drains.
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