County: Tipperary Site name: MONADREELA (Site 5)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E0299
Author: Neil O'Flanagan
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 609579m, N 642047m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.529702, -7.858820
Site 5 was excavated in advance of construction of the N8 Cashel Bypass and N74 Link Road South. The majority of the site was stripped of topsoil between 6 and 13 March 2003. The east end of the site was stripped at a later stage, but the entire area of 6146m2 was fully excavated by 26 March 2003.
The excavation exposed numerous features spread over the eastern slope of a small hill. The slope came down onto a low-lying basin, where a small shallow lake forms for most of the year, being drained occasionally for agricultural purposes. The lake was supplied partly by water emanating from a natural spring situated on the northern edge of Area 5. The spring and the lake may have been the focus of prehistoric settlement.
The location of the archaeological features was greatly influenced by the general topography. The high ground chosen for two cremation pits contrasted with the location of the post-holes and limekiln on the edge of a sandy bank overlooking the lake, and the occurrence of a fulacht fiadh on its marshy edge.
Should the features prove contemporaneous, their different locations suggest an organised parcelling of the slope for uses based on ritual, communal and economic functions.
The area had been previously tested by Anne Marie Lennon, when it formed part of Site 3 in the initial phase of testing (Excavations 2002, No. 1744, 02E0374). The report highlighted the finding of several post-holes, pits and linear cuts suggesting a concentrated usage of the area.
3 Manor Street, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7
