County: Limerick Site name: RATHBANE SOUTH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0431
Author: Edmond O’Donovan, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 559184m, N 654447m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.639700, -8.603049
Monitoring, carried out as part of the Limerick Main Drainage Scheme by Paul Stevens (Excavations 1999, 158, and Excavations 2000, No. 572), led to the discovery of a deposit of burnt mound material in the townland of Rathbane South. The fulacht fiadh was located in flat, waterlogged ground to the south of Rathbane golf-course, in the gently rolling rural landscape immediately south of Limerick City. Extensive infrastructural development in the vicinity of the site has led to the excavation of many similar prehistoric sites (Excavations 1999, 179–80, 99E0525, 99E0633 and 99E0634) and to the discovery of a series of other prehistoric settlement-related features (see Excavations 2000, No. 575).
The initial archaeological excavations led to the identification of a horseshoe-shaped mound consisting of charcoal and heat-shattered sandstone measuring 13m north–south by 14m, with a maximum depth of 0.2m. An area of burning filled the open end of the horseshoe to the west. Two troughs, C17 and C18, were identified under the burnt mound material; a third feature either pre-dated the mound or was an uncompleted trough. These were located towards the centre of the mound and on an east-south-east/west-north-west axis. A thin layer of compact, plastic, grey/purple clay lay under the sandstone (though not within the troughs) directly over subsoil. This was interpreted as a buried sod.
A total of 80 features were excavated: 58 stake-holes, 5 plank settings, 4 modern linear field drains, 3 troughs, 2 pits and 8 other features. Trough C17 was sub-oval in plan and contained a subcircular arrangement of 35–8 stake-holes cut within its base, which was lined with a thin deposit of sand. A later addition to the trough was cut into its eastern extent. Trough C18 was subrectangular in plan with near-vertical sides and had five plank-holes and one stake-hole cut within its flat base.
Two artefacts were recovered, a flint flake and a chert hollow-based arrowhead. The association of the hollow-based arrowhead with the site suggests a date for the monument in the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age. The site was clearly multi-phased; however, the span over which this ranged awaits the confirmation of radiocarbon dating.
A further feature, not visible on the surface prior to excavation, was discovered approximately 15m to the north of the site. It consisted of a V-shaped cut (pit, 0.72m deep, 2.8m east–west) associated with a thin band of charcoal-rich clay running c. 7m east–west.
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