County: Waterford Site name: Adamstown 3
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1217
Author: Ian Russell, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd, Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth, and John Purcell, 17 Balmoral Ter
Site type: Prehistoric houses
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 652901m, N 609496m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.234663, -7.225511
The remains of a large oval/circular house were exposed at this site during testing. The house was constructed from a number of post-holes with associated pits and hearths.
The excavation revealed the presence of at least four structures. The first was circular or oval in shape and was constructed from a large number of post-holes and stake-holes, with two internal hearths. The entrance was exposed to the south-east and appeared to have had a porch-like structure around it. A broken saddle quern was recovered from within one of the post-holes, with a second broken piece recovered from the topsoil nearby. A third house was provisionally identified below, or pre-dating, this structure. It appeared to have been constructed from a curved or circular slot-trench, which was partially exposed to the north-west, and had been cut by a number of the later post-holes and linear features. A number of body sherds of coarse pottery have been recovered.
The second house was exposed nearby, to the east. It was also oval/circular in shape and measured c. 8m in diameter. It has been constructed from a number of stake-holes within a slot-trench and contained a number of internal post-holes and divisions.
The fourth house was exposed to the north-west of House 1. It was constructed from a number of post- and stake-holes and contained a hearth and a large pit filled with charcoal and burnt-bone fragments. It is likely that the houses date to the Late Neolithic-Bronze Age period.
A number of linear features, pre-dating the houses, have also been exposed. They are roughly parallel to each other, are north-west/south-east in orientation and are c. 4.5m apart. It is possible that they may represent prehistoric field systems or traces of agricultural activity. In addition, a number of pits and small features have been exposed to the north-west, north, south and east of the house sites and these represent outlying domestic or industrial activity.
Excavation of this site has been completed and no further work is proposed.
