County: Laois Site name: LISMORE (2)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A015/112
Author: Ken Wiggins, for ACS Ltd.
Site type: Habitation site
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 627796m, N 686187m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.925786, -7.586605
Testing was carried out before the construction of the M7 Portlaoise–Castletown/M8 Portlaoise–Cullahill motorway scheme. In March 2005, during centre-line testing of Contract 2, Testing Area 9, carried out by Aidan O’Connell (see No. 866, Excavations 2005), four areas of archaeological significance were identified in Field 533 (Plot 140). The site was designated Lismore 2 and was excavated between 2 and 25 November. Two areas measuring 30m by 30m (Cutting 2 and 3) and an area measuring 20m by 20m (Cutting 1) were stripped of topsoil by mechanical excavator to a depth of c. 0.4m. An additional area of 20m by 20m could not be stripped, as access was not permitted until early 2006.
Excavation of the smaller area (Cutting 1) revealed a hearth, some post-holes that were not structurally coherent and a shallow cut containing several burnt stones.
Cutting 2, located 190m north-west of Cutting 1, was the most archaeologically significant of the three cuttings. It contained a hearth, a concentrated area of large post-holes, a double alignment of stake-holes and a pit containing prehistoric pottery. The fill of one of the stake-holes contained a hammer-stone. One post-hole contained a high concentration of charcoal and burnt bone. The archaeological features represent significant evidence for prehistoric habitation, of likely late Bronze Age date, with structurally coherent negative features pointing to the existence of at least one house.
Cutting 3, 60m north-west of Cutting 2, contained several small spreads of burnt-stone material. A small shallow pit produced a few sherds of prehistoric pottery. The feature was adjacent to a hearth. A number of bowl-shaped pits contained burnt-stone material; a larger pit, measuring 2.5m by 2m and 0.6m deep, also contained burnt stone. Two other pits did not contain burnt stone. Several of the excavated contexts in Cutting 3 were consistent with material typical of an ancient cooking site, or fulacht fiadh, but there was no evidence for a burnt mound within the limits of the excavation.
The archaeological material excavated in the three cuttings represents significant evidence for occupation within areas of the field, most probably dating from the late Bronze Age.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
