County: Laois Site name: CANNONSWOOD/KILNASEER
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A015/20
Author: Ed Danaher, for Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 634569m, N 678559m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.856844, -7.486699
An assessment was carried out in advance of the proposed M7 Portlaoise–Castletown/M8 Portlaoise–
Cullahill motorway scheme between February and June 2005. The work was carried out in March 2005 on behalf of Laois County Council and the National Roads Authority. The section described in this report is Testing Area 8 of Contract 1. Contract 1 of the project incorporated the Portlaoise–Cullahill section of the scheme, consisting of c. 14km of motorway, which extends from Aghaboe to south of Cullahill through the townlands from Gortnaclea to Oldtown. Testing Area 8 was located in the townlands of Kilnaseer and Cannonswood, between Chainage 16500 and 15400 of the proposed scheme. The assessment methodology generally consisted of mechanically excavating a 2.15m-wide test-trench along the centre-line, with perpendicular offset trenches extending to the edge of the land-take.
One archaeological feature was identified in the area and consisted of a relatively thin spread of burnt-mound material (F8) comprising heat-shattered stone, occasional charcoal flecks and mid- to dark-brown silty clay. The spread was situated c. 25m north of the Erkina River. F8 was quite small and shallow and was present in isolation. A large area had been cleared around it but did not reveal any associated features or deposits. The feature was fully excavated. Its dimensions were 3.3m north–south by 3m and it was 0.08m deep.
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