County: Waterford Site name: KILLOTERAN (Site 5, Fields 3–6)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0318 ext.
Author: Robert O'Hara, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Pit and Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 654169m, N 609662m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.236031, -7.206927
A number of fields remained untested from the initial assessment phase, directed by Tara O'Neill, in March 2002 (Excavations 2002, No. 1795), in advance of motorway construction. Four fields in the townland of Killoteran, designated Site 5, Fields 3–6, were subsequently tested under the original licence. The testing methodology remained unchanged and consisted of a centre-line trench with offsets at 45º about every 30m. The majority of trenches were sterile, consisting of topsoil over natural subsoil with only occasional furrow activity in places. A single pit was exposed in Field 6 within Trench 9. It was oval in shape and filled with a grey clay, stone and charcoal.
A deposit of heat-fractured stone was located in a low-lying marshy area next to a water channel at the western end of Field 4. This deposit represents one or more episodes of fulacht fiadh activity.
Two large areas were opened up in each field under separate licences to test a number of geophysical anomalies. No archaeological features were picked up in these areas.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
