2004:0919 - NEWRATH (Sites 36 and 37), Kilkenny

This report presents the preliminary results of investigations 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. 1039, 03E0435) on these sites in 2003 identified a patch of burnt clay and a shallow patch of charcoal.

Full resolution took place on these sites between May and July 2004. The burnt clay in Site 36 proved to be part of a pit cremation with a burnt base cut into the natural clay subsoil. The pit was filled with grey/brown sandy silt and capped with yellow clay. Fragments of a Bronze Age urn (Helen Roche, pers. comm.) and cremated human bone were recovered from the pit fill. Three previously unidentified small pits and two larger ones were found in the vicinity of the burnt pit.

The shallow patch of charcoal in Site 37 was revealed to be part of a complex of pits associated with the foundations of a rectangular building located in the centre of the site. An early Neolithic lozenge-shaped flint arrowhead was found in one of the slot-trenches for this building and two flint blades that may be Late Neolithic (Eoin Grogan and Helen Roche, pers. comm.) were recovered from one of the internal post-holes. Some 25m north-east of the building a circular ditch enclosing a small stone cairn with a central stone-lined cist, which contained a cremation in an upturned vase urn, were found. Three postholes, interpreted as the possible remains of a cremation platform, were found south of the ditch.

Eight pit cremations with three marker posts were uncovered 16.5m south of the rectangular building and another three post-holes and fourteen pits were recorded scattered around the site. A sherd of Western Neolithic ware (Helen Roche, pers. comm.) was found in one of the post-holes and a flint scraper and a small flint blade were each found in association with pits.

The Mile Post, Waterford