County: Clare Site name: MOUNT (BGE 3/27/1)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1206
Author: Kate Taylor, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 527857m, N 665469m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.735487, -9.068252
This site was examined as part of the Bord Gáis Éireann Pipeline to the West project. Two small overlapping spreads of burnt material were excavated on dry land at the base of a steep hill, c. 20m from a stream.
Deposit 1 was amorphous in plan, measuring 2.3m by 1.4m, and was 0.11m thick. The material consisted of a dark brown/black, silty clay with 40% heat-shattered stones (all sandstone) and frequent charcoal flecks. Spread 2, which was slightly overlain by Spread 1, measured 2m by 1.3m and was 0.03m thick. This, smaller deposit, which had an ashy appearance, was a black/grey silty clay with 20% heat-shattered sandstone and moderate amounts of charcoal. No artefacts were recovered during excavations; however, it is hoped that sufficient charcoal will be recovered from a sample to give a radiocarbon determination.
Although the excavated evidence is limited, it suggests that there is further archaeological material in the area. The location adjacent to the stream and the nature of the recovered material, burnt stones and charcoal are typical of fulacht fiadh-type activity, and the excavated area may lie at the edge of a larger complex of archaeological features in the adjacent field.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
