2006:1147 - COOLFIN (4), Laois

This site was located within Contract 2 of the proposed M7 Portlaoise to Castletown/M8 Portlaoise to Cullahill motorway scheme and was identified during advance testing by Robert O’Hara (Excavations 2005, No. 858, A015/028). Full resolution occurred in March 2006. Coolfin 4 comprised a rectangular pit with dimensions of 1.6m east–west by 1.05m and a depth of 0.15m. It was filled with burnt-mound material and was likely to have held a wooden trough in antiquity, as suggested by the post-holes in the four corners of this feature. A north–south-orientated stream was situated 8m to the west. Four soil samples currently await analysis, while one charcoal sample is to be dispatched for radiocarbon analysis.