County: Galway Site name: RAHALLY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A024/3.28
Author: Marta Muñiz Pérez, for CRDS Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 566458m, N 725978m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.283065, -8.502990
This excavation was undertaken as part of testing for the proposed N6 Galway–Ballinasloe road scheme, Contract 3, which consisted of the excavation of test-trenches with mechanical diggers over a distance of c. 15km. The work was commissioned by the Galway County Council National Roads Design Office and sponsored by the National Roads Authority.
A group of possible archaeological features was identified in proximity to a ringfort (SMR 86:211) and a field system (SMR 86:213) that could be associated with the ringfort. Testing was carried out on 22 and 23 November 2005. The site is situated in an elevated position on the north-west facing slope of a low ridge.
Work consisted of excavation of 700m2 in trenches along the central line of the road and in perpendicular offsets. Excavation revealed a group of c. 20 features scattered along the field and not showing any clear pattern. These consisted of a possible slot-trench, a series of post-holes and a number of pits, as well as modern linear features.
A shallow curvilinear cut (4.5m long, 0.3m wide, 0.13m deep) was interpreted as a slot-trench for a vertical structure such as a windbreak. Close to this feature were three subcircular pits of variable sizes filled with charcoal-rich matter. Two linear ditches c. 2m wide ran roughly parallel to the modern boundary and were assumed to be modern. East of the possible slot-trench, a cluster of nine small circular features—possibly post-holes—was exposed, although no clear structural pattern was visible. Two further pits were exposed some 60m to the east of the group described above. These consisted of two circular pits of 0.8m and 0.4m diameter containing a significant quantity of charcoal. No finds were retrieved associated with any of the potential features. Three flakes of chert were recovered from a geotechnical test-pit adjacent to the last features described. These may have been displaced from their original location.
Despite the vague evidence and the lack of finds, positive results in the testing of the adjacent areas suggested a potential archaeological provenance for these features. It was recommended that the excavation area be extended to c. 600m2 around these features in order to clarify the relationship between the remains exposed on this site and features exposed on the adjacent sites AO27/3.8 and AO24/3.9 (see Nos 644 and 645, Excavations 2005).
Unit 4, Dundrum Business Park, Windy Arbour, Dublin 14
