County: Galway Site name: KILLESCRAGH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A024/3.29
Author: Sheelagh Conran, CRDS Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 563264m, N 725253m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.276331, -8.550790
Assessment took place on the proposed route of the N6 Galway–Ballinasloe road scheme (Contract 3). The work was commissioned by the Galway County Council National Roads Design Office and sponsored by the National Roads Authority.
An area of 450m2 was stripped at Killescragh with the assistance of tracked mechanical excavators. Where features of potential archaeological significance were uncovered they were manually cleaned back, recorded, partly excavated and sampled.
SMR 97:110 and SMR 97:110(01) lie 355m from the subject area and are unaffected by works. Another burnt mound (see No. 617, Excavations 2005, A024/3.30) lies 720m west of the subject site. The site lies within bog to the south of an esker ridge, with a working quarry to the north. The soil conditions were waterlogged and peaty, with a predominance of bog and marshland.
During the course of the soil-stripping a burnt mound was revealed and stripped to its full extent. The mound is irregular in shape and measures 4.8m in length, 5m wide and up to 0.25m deep. It consists of a black, charcoal-rich deposit containing large amounts of burnt and heat-shattered stone and has been provisionally dated to the prehistoric period. Soil samples were taken and may be sent for analysis and 14C dating if suitable. There were no artefacts recovered during the testing of this site.
Unit 4, Dundrum Business Park, Dundrum, Dublin 14
