County: Kilkenny Site name: AR021, Scart
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: A032/AR021, E3000
Author: Jonathan Monteith, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd, Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.
Site type: Isolated pit
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 656600m, N 622614m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.352195, -7.169171
This site was identified in the townland of Scart, Co. Kilkenny, in the course of work carried out for Kilkenny County Council/National Roads Authority during the N9/N10 Waterford to Powerstown scheme. The site was identified as an isolated pit and was excavated in July 2006.
This site (measuring 15m by 15m) consisted of a single subcircular pit (measuring 0.7m long and 0.55m wide) cutting natural subsoil to a maximum depth of 0.11m, with a bowl-shaped profile and filled with charcoal-rich material. No evidence of in situ burning was identified.
An additional shallow spread of similar material was located to the immediate south and may have been the result of material being dragged and deposited during mechanical topsoil removal.
Determination of date or function of this pit and spread is unclear pending specialist analysis of environmental samples. However, the excavation of late Neolithic and Bronze Age material to the east and kilns to the south may prove to be contemporary (see No. 1092 below, E3001, and No. 1090 above, E2505, respectively).
