2003:1191 - RATHNANEANE, Newcastle West, Limerick

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Limerick Site name: RATHNANEANE, Newcastle West

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1662

Author: Laurence Dunne, Eachtra Archaeological Projects

Site type: Pit

Period/Dating: Undetermined

ITM: E 528256m, N 633250m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.446002, -9.055354

Test excavations were carried out at Rathnaneane, Newcastle West, in advance of the construction of 102 two-storey dwellings, as part of an impact assessment due to the proximity of a ringfort (SMR 36:74) to the development site.

Six test-trenches were excavated, which extended radially from the location of the ringfort. They measured 20m by 2m. No evidence of the ringfort ditch was uncovered, but a shallow linear pit was recorded in one of the trenches. It measured 3.8m by 1.1m by 0.11m deep. The fill consisted of orange/brown silty clay with 15% charcoal lumps. It contained occasional flecks of burnt bone, occasional unburnt bone and animal teeth and occasional burnt clay. The cut was subrectangular in plan, with rounded corners. It may have been associated with the nearby ringfort.

3 Canal Place, Tralee, Co. Kerry