County: Galway Site name: CARAUN MORE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A024/3.27
Author: Sheelagh Conran, CRDS Ltd.
Site type: Ringfort - rath
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 563581m, N 725303m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.276802, -8.546044
Assessment was carried out on the proposed route of the N6 Galway–Ballinasloe road scheme (Contract 3). The work was commissioned by Galway County Council National Roads Design Office and sponsored by the National Roads Authority.
Approximately 5380m2 was subjected to testing using tracked mechanical diggers and, where potential archaeological features were uncovered, these were manually cleaned back, recorded and where necessary partly excavated and sampled.
The site at Caraun More is located c. 4.5km north-east of the village of New Inn in east Galway. The site is located on a hill sloping down towards the south with a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. It was under pasture prior to testing. The nearest known monument is a bivallate ringfort, SMR 97:56, located 0.75km to the south-east.
Test excavations exposed evidence of a possible early medieval ringfort. Two substantial ditches forming enclosures were identified; it is suggested that the smaller enclosure may have marked the site of a dwelling, while the larger may have functioned as a livestock enclosure. Additional exposed features may be associated with the use and/or occupation of the site.
The small curvilinear enclosing ditch was situated at the north-eastern end of the site. The enclosed area measured 34m in diameter; the ditch cut measured 2.65m in width and 0.55–0.65m in depth. Four fills were recorded.
The larger curvilinear ditch was exposed extending east–west for 81.6m. The ditch then curved north and joined the smaller enclosure ditch. It measured 2.6–3.1m in width and 0.4–0.9m in depth. It was found to be a double ditch when sectioned and contained three fills.
A third linear ditch cut was exposed extending north–south across the site, a short distance east of the larger enclosing ditch. It measured 56m long, 0.95m wide and 0.2m in depth and contained a single fill. It is possible that both ditch cuts are contemporary, originally forming a single large enclosure.
Two burnt pits were exposed 100m east of the south-eastern end of the larger enclosing ditch. The first pit was small, shallow and circular, measuring 0.6m long, 0.6m wide and 0.1m deep. It contained a single fill. The second pit was 5.5m to the east. It consisted of a shallow, subcircular cut measuring 1.4m long, 1.2m wide and 0.8m deep. It contained two fills. Charcoal samples were retained from within both pits for future radiocarbon dating.
Six features of unclear date and association have been grouped together, as their archaeological period is at present unknown. They contained no datable artefacts and could not be provisionally assigned a date on their stratigraphical relationship with, or proximity to, other features exposed. The features consist of five large subcircular pits and two shallow linear ditch cuts.
No artefacts were recovered during the testing of this site. Full excavation of that portion of the site falling within the road corridor was recommended.
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