County: Limerick Site name: KILBANE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1710
Author: Tracy Collins, Aegis Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 561358m, N 656143m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.655108, -8.571121
This site was identified during monitoring works (No. 1183, Excavations 2002, 02E1615). The feature had a subcircular pit, 1.4m long, 0.8m wide (maximum) and 0.4m deep. It was filled with a very black material, mixed with boulder clay, which had an oily texture. There were small amounts of charcoal, with some organic material. The edge of the pit showed evidence of burning. A linear flue projected from the pit to the south-west. It was 0.8m long, 0.2m wide and 0.25m deep. This flue was filled with a mix of redeposited boulder clay, with some stones and flecks of charcoal. Its edges had some evidence of heat but to a lesser degree than the pit.
Morphologically this pit is similar to one excavated at Rockfield, Co. Kerry (Collins and Lynch 2001; Collins 2003), which also had a cruciform flue in its base. The fill of that flue contained small amounts of cremated bone. The Kilbane pit, given the lack of cremated bone and artefacts, may not have had a funerary function and may instead be related to some industrial activity. That said, features of both a funerary nature (cremation pits with Bronze Age pottery, excavated by Avril Hayes, No. 1186, Excavations 2002, 02E1787) and an industrial nature (pits containing charcoal and slag excavated by Tony Cummins, No. 1185, Excavations 2002, 02E1772) were found in the immediate vicinity. The radiocarbon dating of this feature may shed more light on its precise function, associations and period.
References
Collins, T. and Lynch, L. 2001 Prehistoric burial and ritual in southwest Ireland. Antiquity 75, 493–4.
Collins, T. 2003 An excavation of a crematorium at Rockfield, County Kerry. Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society 36, 43–54.
16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick
