County: Wicklow Site name: BARNACOYLE BIG I
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0434
Author: Ian W. Doyle for Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 729233m, N 701043m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.044412, -6.072653
A small prehistoric pit was excavated in the townland of Barnacoyle Big, Co. Wicklow, during May 2001. The site was detected during the monitoring of topsoil-stripping for the Hollybrook–Wicklow Bord Gás Éireann pipeline.
The site is on the south-west flank of a low hill (which rises to a maximum height of 39m OD). The location on the side of the hill allows extensive views to the south, although the point where the archaeology was detected was on the sloping hillside as opposed to a break in fall or mid-slope terrace. The surrounding area was under tillage at the time of excavation and occasional nodules of flint waste were noted in the ploughsoil.
During the monitoring of topsoil-stripping a spread of moisture-retentive soil, slightly darker than the surrounding subsoil, was revealed. Hand-cleaning of this revealed sherds of what appeared to be prehistoric pottery. Further cleaning revealed an irregular-shaped cut into natural stratigraphy. This cut measured 2.1m north–south by 0.9–1.07m, with a depth of 0.5m. Two possible post-holes were present at the northern end. The cut was generally U-shaped in profile, with straight sides on the north, south, south-west, west and north-west, but with more gradually sloping sides on the north-east, east and south-east.
The lower fill of the pit cut consisted of a moderately compact brown, yellow-mottled, clay sand which contained occasional fragments of charcoal and small stones. This fill was present throughout the cut and measured 2.1m north–south by 1.07m, with a depth of approximately 0.05m. At the sides it blended into the natural subsoil.
The upper fill of the cut produced 34 sherds of decorated prehistoric pottery. This latter fill was a moderately compact dark brown clay sand with occasional inclusions of small stones and charcoal fragments, 0.28–0.14m deep.
Analysis of the pottery by Anna Brindley suggested that a single vessel was represented by the sherds, and that it is likely to date from the early Bronze Age. Elements of the decoration point to the Vase tradition, but the form of the rim and cordons points to the Cordoned Urn tradition.
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