County: Westmeath Site name: RIVERDALE, Raharney
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WM028-002 Licence number: 04E1656
Author: Stuart D. Elder, The Archaeology Company
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 662973m, N 751743m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.511901, -7.050570
Testing took place ahead of an extension to a sand and gravel quarry beside the River Deel. The area of development is an irregular-shaped raised platform from which a 21,500m2 area of gravel remains to be extracted. An area measuring 6856m2 has already been extracted from the central and southern parts of the platform and an access road has been constructed from an existing field entrance to the north-west of the platform. The land surrounding the development is used for crop cultivation.
A possible earthwork site had been identified in the immediate vicinity of the platform, but no surface trace remained. Reclamation works in the 1970s may have been responsible for the destruction of the earthwork.
Trenching at the eastern limit of the platform revealed an isolated pit feature containing a black friable charcoal-rich fill. The edges were oxidised, indicating burning in situ. The pit was subrectangular and measured 1.9m by 1.4m by 0.35m. No datable artefacts were retrieved from the fill of this feature and nothing else of archaeological significance was noted in the other test-trenches.
Birr Technology Centre, Mill Island, Birr, Co. Offaly
