2005:553 - BALLINTOBER WEST, Galway

A test excavation was undertaken in Ballintober West, Co. Galway, as part of a series of four site investigations undertaken prior to construction work commencing on the New Inn to Tynagh gas pipeline route. Test-trenches were placed at three separate locations within the area of a site listed as a ‘flint scatter’ in the Archaeological Inventory of County Galway, Vol. II (Alcock et al. 1999). The site is located close to the village of Kilreekill in a field that was under pasture at the time of the test excavation. As the exact findspot of the flint scatter is not recorded, it was necessary to place three long trenches at intervals across the zone of constraint depicted on the RMP map for County Galway. The route of the pipeline trench had already been set out by Bord Gáis and the test-trenches respected this line. The first trench was placed east–west along the north-western side of the constraint zone and the other two were set out north–south at the southern end. Two of the test-trenches were located within one large greenfield area and the other was situated in a field to the immediate west. The topsoil was removed with a wide toothless bucket to the top of the subsoil and the surface was subsequently examined for worked lithic material or debitage associated with the production of stone tools. The topsoil was also spread across the field and examined for lithic finds. The test excavation demonstrated that no flint scatters were present in the areas that were investigated.