2002:1262 - TULLERBOY (BGE 3/73/1), Limerick

This site was examined as part of Bord Gáis Éireann’s Pipeline to the West. Two pits and a spread were excavated in an area of 29m2.

Pit 2 was triangular, measuring 1.51m south-east/ north-west by 0.6m, and was 0.14m deep, with a concave centre and shallower, shelved edges. The fill was a blue/grey sandy clay with moderate amounts of burnt stone, mostly sandstone, and charcoal.

Pit 6 was oval, measuring 1.32m north–south by 0.9m, and was 0.2m deep, with steep sides and an uneven base. The fill was a dark grey, sandy clay with a large burnt stone component, mostly sandstone, and a moderate amount of charcoal.

The amorphous spread was similar to the fills of the two pits, a mid-grey sandy clay with a large burnt sandstone and charcoal component. It occupied a natural depression and was disturbed by root activity. The spread measured 1.25m by 1.1m and was 0.08m deep.

Although no artefacts were recovered from stratified contexts, two were found on the surface of the site. Both were lithic pieces: a crescentic flint scraper and a chert scraper. A small amount of fragmentary charcoal was recovered from sieved samples, which should be suitable for species identification and may produce a radiocarbon determination.

This site is typical of many excavated during the pipeline project, with small spreads of material including charcoal and fire-cracked stone and pits containing similar deposits. These deposits resemble the material from fulachta fiadh, although they do not themselves form burnt mounds. Although no stratified dating material was recovered, the surface finds suggest that the site dates to the Bronze Age, which does not seem inconsistent with the excavated material.

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin