County: Carlow Site name: Kilcarrig
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 07E0962
Author: Lydia Cagney, 34 Castle Heights, Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary.
Site type: Multi-period industrial/occupation
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 672112m, N 661738m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.701963, -6.933010
Archaeological investigations were carried out prior to the commencement of ground-reduction works associated with a proposed quarry development at Kilcarrig, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow, following recommendations resulting from an assessment conducted by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil in 2003 (Excavations 2003, No. 46, 03E1336), which identified two main areas containing archaeological activity. In Area A up to eight features were identified, including a figure-of-eight cereal-drying kiln, its rake-out and a scatter of pits. In Area B were a corn-drying kiln, a possible trough and two stone-lined features. The site was located c. 80m from CW016–091, a ringfort.
Full resolution was conducted on this site between 8 November and 6 December 2007. This revealed all of the features identified in testing, in addition to nine extra pits in Area A (present outside the scope of the test-trenches) that were exposed during the initial clean-back. These features combined to form the latest phase (Phase 3) of activity on the site, which were cut into a layer of colluvium measuring up to 13m in depth. It was therefore necessary to investigate underlying substrata for potential archaeological material, given that sherds of Bronze Age and Neolithic pottery had been retrieved from the site during the archaeological assessment.
Removal of the colluvial material resulted in the exposure of an underlying phase of activity (Phase 2), which, based on artefactual and stratigraphic analysis alone, strongly suggests that it was derived from prehistoric, possibly Bronze Age, activity. This horizon, which formed an interface between Phases 3 and 2, sealed an earlier episode (Phase 1), manifest in the form of structural evidence such as lightweight fencing and a subcircular/penannular structure constructed of posts. It is not yet clear, however, how much time elapsed between Phases 1 and 2, since no artefacts were retrieved during the excavation of Phase 1. Environmental samples, however, should provide adequate quantities of palaeoenvironmental material for 14C/AMS dating and thus provide a thorough chronological sequence for this site.
