County: Limerick Site name: FINNITERSTOWN (BGE 3/64/5)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0668
Author: Graham Hull, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 544731m, N 641047m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.517993, -8.814335
This site was examined as part of Bord Gáis Éireann’s Pipeline to the West. A single shallow pit describing an elongated oval was excavated. The pit measured 1.4m (north-east/south-west) by 0.3–0.48m. The pit sides sloped down to a flattish base 0.18m below the ground surface. The south-west side was steeper than the north-east. The fill, a fine, silty clay at the south-west end of the pit was a red/orange colour with occasional charcoal inclusions, suggestive of in situ burning. At the north-east end of the pit the fill was grey/brown with more frequent charcoal flecking.
The cut is best interpreted as a fire-pit, but without artefacts it is not likely that a date for its use will be forthcoming. It may prove possible, however, to understand this discrete archaeological feature better by considering it in relation to neighbouring sites excavated during the project.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
