County: Mayo Site name: KILDARRA
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 102:42(02) Licence number: 01E0750
Author: Bernard Guinan
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 545069m, N 773549m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.708741, -8.832020
Testing within the protected area of this site took place in August 2001, as part of the Lough Mask Regional Water Supply Scheme Stage III (see No. 918, Excavations 2001, 01E0314). The test area was 180m by 15m, and 20m from a walled graveyard. Prior to testing the landowner indicated that gravel pits had been dug and subsequently reinstated within the test area in the past.
Testing was carried out using a mechanical digger. The area was stripped stratigraphically of sod, topsoil (0.3–1.5m deep) and subsoil to sterile glacial deposits. Evidence of former field boundaries were found.
No deposits or features of an archaeological nature were unearthed. A piece of possibly struck chert was recovered from the topsoil. Fragmented animal bones were uncovered. These were the remains of modern domestic or agricultural animal burials most likely deposited during the backfilling of former gravel pits in the area.
Coosan, Athlone, Co. Westmeath
