County: Roscommon Site name: Rathpeak
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: A034, E2832
Author: Bruce Sutton, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd, Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.
Site type: Natural mound – no archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 592299m, N 731452m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.333261, -8.115610
Archaeological assessment on the proposed route of the N6 Ballinasloe to Athlone road scheme involved targeted test excavation of selected areas lying within the proposed road-take. Work was commissioned by Galway County Council and the National Roads Design Office and sponsored by the National Roads Authority. Testing here was of a possible prehistoric burnt mound, which is to be destroyed during the course of the construction.
Three trenches were excavated on the site. The topsoil in the area, 0.17–0.54m deep, was a moderately compact, dry mid-brown peat with occasional inclusions of decayed stone and some organic material such as oak branches and grass. No mound material was present at the site and it was interpreted as a naturally occurring lowland mound in a wetland setting. There was some evidence of modern field drainage intersecting the mound.
Nothing of archaeological significance was uncovered during the excavation.
