County: Tipperary Site name: KILEMLY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A035/00, E2126
Author: Melanie McQuade, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Settlement cluster and Cremation pit
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 606869m, N 626574m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.390668, -7.899079
Three sites (Sites 203.3a, 203.3 and 203.4) were investigated under number E2126 in advance of the construction of the N24 road linking to the N8 north of Cahir.
Site 203.3a measured 15m by 10m. It comprised a linear ditch and a post-hole of unconfirmed date.
Site 203.3 was an area of settlement located 30m to the east. It was sited on a south-facing slope at an elevation (66.33m OD) which commanded good views of the surrounding area. The area of investigation measured 90m by 25m.
Up to four structures were represented by clusters of post-holes and structural elements. However, the layout of these features did not form coherent ground plans. Two hearths and several pits on the south-eastern part of the site represent structural remains or settlement activity dating to the Middle Bronze Age (1734–1715 cal BC). The remains of a structure on the north-eastern end of the site were represented by a row of post-holes and a scattering of other post- and stake-holes. The post-holes were between 0.18m and 0.4m wide and were up to 0.5m deep. No dating evidence was recovered from this part of the site.
Another structure was represented by several pits and post-holes enclosing a large hearth on the central area of the site. The post-holes defined a subcircular area c. 6m in diameter. They were between 0.1m and 0.42m wide and 0.12m and 0.4m deep. Internal features included some form of drying rack or hearth furniture built from numerous stakes surrounding the hearth. There were also four cooking pits and a number of smaller pits surrounding the hearth. The largest of the cooking pits was oval in plan (1.62m by 0.94m) and was 0.21m deep. The other pits varied from 0.4m in diameter to 0.98m by 0.58m. They may have served as storage pits, which were later backfilled with domestic refuse. The structural remains were dated to the Late Bronze Age (1256–1237 cal BC). Finds include coarseware pottery sherds, consistent with the Late Bronze Age date, and a decorated stone spindle whorl.
Further structural remains and settlement activity were uncovered c. 18m north-west of the central structure. The structure was represented by two foundation trenches and a post-hole arranged in an arc. The foundation trenches were rectilinear in plan and measured 0.9m by 0.3m and 0.09m by 0.56m. There were several pits and two external hearths c. 13m east of the structural remains. The pits ranged from 0.34m by 0.26m to 0.93m by 0.63m and may have been used for storage purposes.
Site 203.4 was located 20m to the east of 203.3 and the area of excavation measured 30m by 29m. There was evidence for ritual and settlement activity on this site. Three cremation burials were uncovered on the north-west part of the site. The cremated remains had been placed in unlined pits which ranged from 0.28m in diameter to 0.55m by 0.43m. Analysis of the cremated bone is ongoing, but it is likely that the burials are contemporary either with the Bronze Age settlement at nearby Site 203.3 or with the other features on this site. These included numerous post-holes and pits, one of which returned an Iron Age date of 190 cal BC to AD 20.
Structural remains were indicated by fourteen post-holes set across the site. Four of these were aligned roughly east–west and extended for 14m on the northern end of the site, but the remaining post-holes did not form a coherent ground plan. They ranged from 0.18m to 0.53m wide and were between 0.06m and 0.22m deep. A north-east/south-west-oriented ditch on the west of the site may have been part of an enclosure or a boundary of some sort. It was traced for 30m and was 0.38m to 0.75m wide and up to 0.20m deep. A flint flake was recovered from the fill.
Several pits were scattered across the site. Seven of these were filled with charcoal-rich silt and fire-heated stone. There was no evidence for burning at the base of these pits, which suggests either that they burnt at a low temperature or that they were used as pits to hold fire debris, some of which could have been derived from cremation pyres. Several other pits appear to have been used for storage purposes or for the disposal of refuse.
The evidence from Sites 203.3 and 203.4 shows that this area was occupied from the Middle Bronze Age through to the Iron Age.
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