County: Wicklow Site name: Sea Road, Kilcoole
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 06E0670
Author: Rob Lynch, Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, 9 Albert Terrace, Meath Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Site type: Possible prehistoric habitation
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 630344m, N 707932m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.121076, -7.546675
Monitoring of topsoil-stripping was a condition of planning for a residential development along Sea Road, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow. Topsoil-stripping was carried out using a 20-tonne tracked machine with a flat toothless bucket in July 2006. Four areas of archaeological potential were identified and subsequently excavated. Excavation commenced on 31 July 2006 with a team of five people and lasted for two days.
It seems likely that the four features relate to domestic activity rather than ceremonial, as there was no evidence of burnt bone from any of the pits so it is unlikely that they were associated with cremation. Two of the pits, which were in close proximity to each other, yielded a substantial amount of prehistoric pottery, implying domestic activity. A possible hearth, which had a limited amount of in situ burning, was less than 5m from the two pits. The features appeared to represent isolated features within the landscape, although it is possible that further related features have been removed in antiquity.
The present dating is based on the finds recovered and site type and will hopefully be refined on the basis of specialist analysis of finds and samples recovered during excavation.
