2005:677 - CLAHANE, Kerry

Testing as part of an impact assessment was undertaken in advance of a housing development at Clahane, Ballyard, Tralee, Co. Kerry. Fieldwalking had revealed a potential denuded fulacht fiadh that testing later proved to be correct. Fifteen trenches were opened using a mechanical track machine with a wide flat grading bucket. Test-trenching extended for a total length of 810m by 1.5m wide. The depth of topsoil in the excavated trenches varied from 0.2 to 0.45m and overlay an impermeable grey/yellow clay subsoil.

Agricultural activity was evident in the test-trenches in the form of land drains, with typical measurements of 0.3m in width and with small stones randomly deposited at the base. These drains were orientated north–south, respecting the natural slope of the field.

Four archaeological features were recorded in the test-trenches. Three (F.2–4) date to the Bronze Age, while the morphology and spatial context of the third pit feature (F.1) would also indicate a possible prehistoric date. F.1 was oval in plan and orientated north-east/south-west, measuring 2.11m by 1.36m. Heat-shattered stones and charcoal-enriched soil, typical of hot stone technology similar to a fulacht fiadh, were noted on the surface of F.1. F.2 comprised an amorphous spread, measuring 2.5m north–south by 1.89m, that has been truncated by a modern agricultural field drain. Abutting the northern limit of F.2 is a possible pit, F.3, which is subcircular in plan and measures 1.4m east–west by 1.3m; it was filled with heat-shattered stones and charcoal-enriched soil, from which a sandstone saddle quern/mortar was recovered. F.4 is a substantial spread of burnt mound material measuring c. 20m long and estimated to be c. 0.2–0.3m in thickness. All of these type features have been found by Jacinta Kiely in the recent past in the immediate area (at Cloghers) and are probably contemporaneous (Excavations 2000, No. 446, 00E0065).

Three finds were recovered from the testing: the saddle quern/mortar, a struck chert lithic and a blue glass bead. A single struck lithic, a possible scraper of local chert, was recovered in the topsoil and is similar to the assemblage recovered in Cloghers (op. cit.) in 2000, while a pale blue glass bead was similarly recovered from another trench. Its slightly larger size and paler, almost translucent, hue is unlike the smaller and much deeper-coloured example recovered from Carrigeendaniel by Karl Brady (Excavations 2000, No. 424, 00E0265) in the recent past. While blue glass beads are generally regarded as Late Bronze Age or Iron Age, only expert opinion will decide on the dating context of this surface find.

3 Lios na Lohart, Ballyvelly, Tralee, Co. Kerry