County: Kilkenny Site name: MULLINABRO (Sites 4-5)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0332
Author: Joanna Wren, for Headland Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 659223m, N 615244m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.285677, -7.131964
Investigations were carried out on behalf of Waterford City Council as part of Contract 3 archaeological investigations prior to construction of the N25 Waterford bypass. Contract 2 pre-construction testing (Excavations 2003, No. 1037, 03E0384) on these sites in 2003 identified a patch of stones, burnt clay and ash (Site 4), a pit containing charcoal and ash, and a filled-in stream (Site 5).
Full resolution took place in March 2004. The patch of stones and the burnt clay on Site 4 were established to be fills of a subrectangular trench, 0.47m deep. A second, previously unidentified, subrectangular trench, 0.98m deep, was uncovered 2m farther west. A pair of pits, set 0.36m apart, was uncovered 5m south of the two features. Six pieces of worked flint were found in association with these features, including one complete scraper. There were two further cuts to the east and west and some cultivation furrows.
The pit on Site 5 was established to be an isolated feature, although two previously unidentified shallow spreads of burnt clay were also found. These were between 9m and 20m away from the pit and were probably unrelated. The filled-in stream was uncovered again in a stone drain.
The Mile Post, Waterford
