County: Laois Site name: SHANBOE 3
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A015/064
Author: Ken Wiggins, for ACS Ltd, Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth.
Site type: Fire pit
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 624171m, N 686794m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.931425, -7.640473
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 14, carried out by Linda Clarke (see No. 912 above), two features of archaeological potential were identified in Field 465 (Plots 113), one of which was resolved during testing. The site was designated Shanboe 3 and was excavated between 6 and 8 September. An area measuring 10m by 10m was stripped of topsoil by mechanical excavator to a depth of c. 0.4m.
The site consisted of the remains of a small fire pit, cut to the east by a wide furrow. The pit measured 0.5m in diameter by up to 0.1m deep. The edge of the cut was oxidised reddish-brown and contained loose, charcoal-enriched dark-brown silt. There were no artefacts on the site.
