2005:569 - CARAUN MORE, Galway

Archaeological assessment on the proposed route of the N6 Galway–Ballinasloe road scheme (Contract 3) involved targeted test excavation of selected areas. The work was commissioned by Galway County Council National Roads Design Office and sponsored by the National Roads Authority. A ringfort, SMR 97:56, lying in close proximity to the proposed road-take, and a geophysical survey by ArchaeoPhysica Ltd in which a series of anomalies comprising a number of burnt spreads were found, suggested the potential for archaeological features in Caraun More. The site was in a relatively low-lying area and subject to flooding. It is an area of improved pasture traversed by substantial drainage ditches and field boundaries. Two burnt mounds and an associated pit were identified within the stripped area.
Burnt mound I is the most easterly of the two and lies c. 75m north-east of the ringfort. It lies beneath 0.3m of topsoil. An area of 23m by 16m was exposed to reveal the full extent of the mound, which comprises a subrectangular deposit measuring about 10m by 9m and c. 0.15m in depth. The mound material consisted of mid-brown to black clay silt inclusive of charcoal and heat-shattered stone. There were no visible traces of an associated trough or pits. The site had been truncated by modern cultivation furrows.
Immediately east of A024/3.3 is another burnt mound, A024/3.24 (see No. 570 below). Burnt mound II is located c. 300m to the west of Burnt mound I, beneath 0.3m of topsoil. This mound is located on the inner slope of a wet flush through which the pasture still drains. An area 24m by 22m was stripped to expose the full extent of the burnt mound, which is subcircular, measuring c. 11m by 5m and c. 0.15m in depth. The mound material consists of a loose, light-grey/black, well-sorted sandy silt deposit, containing frequent burnt stones and charcoal. There were no visible traces of an associated trough or pits and, like its counterpart to the east, the site had been truncated by modern cultivation furrows.
An oval pit was found to the immediate north-east of this burnt mound. This measured 2.6m by 0.7m and was 0.18m deep. It had a sharp break of slope at the top, gradual at the bottom, sloping sides and concave base. The shallow pit was filled with reddish dark-brown clayey silt with frequent charcoal flecks and occasional pebbles. Oxidised clay within the deposit, concentrated at the edges of the cut, suggests the feature may have been a hearth.
Charcoal-rich samples were taken from all features and these may allow a radiocarbon date to be obtained.
All of the features are considered to be of a Bronze Age date. No artefacts were retrieved from any of the features.
It was recommended that each site be subject to full archaeological excavation. This took place in 2006 under ministerial direction A024/17 (Burnt mound I) and A024/30 (Burnt mound II).