County: Limerick Site name: MILLTOWN NORTH (BGE 3/52/4)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0644
Author: Graham Hull, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 533763m, N 647754m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.577051, -8.977248
This site was examined as part of Bord Gáis Éireann’s Pipeline to the West. A single sherd of prehistoric pottery was recovered from the surface of a feature fill during monitoring by Kenneth Wiggins (No. 64, Excavations 2002, 02E0119). A discrete cut feature was subsequently excavated and revealed to be an irregular and shallow scoop or possibly two very small and truncated post-holes. The feature measured 0.9m (north–south) by 0.7m and had a maximum depth of 0.15m. The fill was a fine, light to mid-brown, silty clay with occasional charcoal flecking and very small fragments of decayed limestone. No artefacts were observed during excavation, but, as Bronze Age pottery had been found at the top of the fill during monitoring, it was decided to take a 100% sample of the fill. Sieving of the sample may produce further artefactual evidence that will facilitate interpretation of this isolated feature.
The pottery sherd is Beaker, which has been documented in Ireland from c. 2500/2450 BC and remained in use for several centuries (A.L. Brindley, pers. comm.).
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
