County: Westmeath Site name: GORTEEN (1 and 2)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A006/006
Author: Carmel Duffy, for V.J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 643375m, N 748332m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.483229, -7.346485
Two burnt spreads, designated Gorteen 1 and Gorteen 2 during pre-development assessment carried out by the Archaeology Company, were excavated. Together they comprised a fulacht fiadh, or burnt-stone site. Three other sites of the same type were found on the same project and subsequently excavated: A006/005, Rochfort Demesne 1 (see No. 1597, Excavations 2005) A006/007, Gorteen 3 (see No. 1551, Excavations 2005) and A007/008, Tullaniskey 1.
The excavation at Gorteen 1 and 2 revealed a burnt-stone mound and some associated pits, one of which may be classified as a trough, with associated post-holes at its northern end. The main burnt-stone deposit covered a curvilinear area measuring 9.5m by 3.5m by 0.1m. The long axis of this deposit ran roughly north–south. There were no features beneath the spread.
Finds recovered during the excavation included a perforated stone object, which was in part of the burnt-spread material, and a crystal from C4, a stratigraphically later variant on the main burnt spread.
Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny
