County: Limerick Site name: CROAGH (BGE 3/60/2)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0877
Author: Emer Dennehy, for Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Flat cemetery
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 539933m, N 644067m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.544624, -8.885560
This site was exposed during the monitoring of topsoil-stripping along the route of a Bord Gáis Éireann Pipeline to the West. Four archaeological features and two phases of activity were evident on this site.
During Phase I two pits were excavated. Pit I, a circular cut with a concave profile, was 0.48m in diameter and 0.17m deep. The lower deposit consisted of a small amount of limestone and sandstone in a black, charcoal-rich, silty clay matrix. The upper fill was a capping layer of redeposited natural in the centre of the pit. Pit II, a circular cut with a concave profile, was 1.1m in diameter and 0.25m deep. The lower deposit consisted of 10% sandstone and limestone in a black, charcoal-rich, silty peat matrix. The upper deposit was a capping layer of redeposited natural.
Phase II is marked by the excavation of a further two pits. Pit III was circular with a concave profile, 0.5m in diameter and 0.16m deep. It contained a uniform charcoal-rich deposit with 10% limestone and a large amount of burnt bone, most of which was concentrated in the south-west quadrant. The fill rose above the level of the surrounding natural and partially covered Pit I. Pit IV, which cut Pit II, was subcircular, measuring 0.37m north–south by 0.61m, and was 0.19m deep. The lower fill was very similar to the surrounding natural and may have been a result of overcutting or been a lining. The upper fill consisted of a small amount of sandstone and limestone in a black, charcoal-rich, silty peat matrix.
These four pits, with BGE 3/60/1 (No. 1155, Excavations 2002, 02E0645), c. 10m to the north-west, form part of a flat cremation cemetery.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
