County: Kerry Site name: DINGLE: Gortonora
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 06E1111
Author: Laurence Dunne and Karen Buckley, Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: Habitation site
Period/Dating: Neolithic (4000BC-2501 BC)
ITM: E 445273m, N 601556m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.144162, -10.260745
Monitoring was undertaken at a proposed development site (PDS) at Gortonora, Dingle. Two discrete archaeological features, a post-hole and a shallow pit, were revealed on the north-eastern side of the PDS at a distance apart of 1.5m.
The post-hole was the southernmost of the two features. Measuring 0.36m north–south by 0.4m and with a depth of 0.15m, it was filled with a dark-brown silty clay of moderate compaction with frequent charcoal flecks and small pieces of charcoal. Deliberately placed sandstone packing stones were recorded within the cut. Lithic finds from the post-hole included a greenstone flake and a piece of white flint debitage. A small ceramic assemblage of sixteen fragments of Early Neolithic round-bottomed shouldered ware, similar to pottery recovered at Cloghers and Manor West, Tralee, in the last several years, was also retrieved.
The second feature comprised a shallow pit. Measuring 0.8m north-west/south-east by 0.6m and 0.08m in depth, the pit was filled with loose charcoal-enriched black silt (C3) with frequent charcoal chunks and occasional small sub-angular and angular stones. The cut was regular in shape with very gentle smooth sides and base. Given the shallow nature of the cut, it is possible that the material C3 occupied a natural hollow rather than a deliberate cut.
Subsequent cleaning by hand in the vicinity of these features revealed no further archaeological deposits, stratigraphy or artefacts. Post-excavation analysis is ongoing, with radiocarbon dates pending.
3 Lios na Lohart, Ballyvelly, Tralee, Co. Kerry
