County: Kildare Site name: FIELD 4, CORBALLY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E0871 AND EXT.
Author: Frank Coyne, Aegis Archaeology Ltd, 16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick.
Site type: Pits and ditch features
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 693974m, N 736786m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.372895, -6.587778
Several features were identified during test-trenching undertaken in Brownstown, Corbally, Co. Kildare, in advance of the extension of a quarry. The area tested was situated in the southern part of Field 4. Possible ditch features (Trenches 18 and 19) were identified, as well as another discrete area of features uncovered at the south-eastern side of the site (Trenches 8–11, 14 and 15). These included two possible post-holes (Trenches 8 and 9), a cremation pit (Trench 14), a possible pit (Trench 11) and a small area of heat-reddened clay (Trench 15). All these were excavated under an extension to the test-trenching licence.
The possible ditch features were linear in plan, being c. 1.2m in width. They varied between 0.12 and 0.15m in depth and were filled with a clean reddish-brown clay. These appear to be the continuation of features previously excavated in an adjacent field. These, however, could not be traced across the site. Possibly due to their shallow nature, they may have been truncated at some time in the past. Because the ditch features are so shallow, it may be the case that they were cut through the topsoil, which is on average 0.5m deep at this point. No obvious cut was noted in the section of topsoil at the edge of the trench, although this may have been disturbed by deep ploughing in the past. Therefore, it may be the case that these ditch features are of more recent date. They do not extend across the site.
While flecks of charcoal were recovered from several of the other features (two possible post-holes, a cremation pit, a possible pit and a small area of heat-reddened clay), their function remains unclear. They did not appear to form part of a larger structure or feature. The cremation pit may have been truncated in the past, as only the bottom bowl part of the pit appears to have survived. While this did not contain any charcoal, it was densely packed with a small amount of both animal and human cremated bone. This appears to indicate careful retrieval of burnt bone from the funeral pyre (Linda Lynch, pers. comm.).
No artefacts were recovered during the excavation.
