2007:295 - LISCAHANE, Cork

A test excavation was undertaken at Liscahane on the southern outskirts of Millstreet prior to the construction of a private residential housing scheme. The development is adjacent to an existing housing estate, which was constructed by Cork County Council in 2003, when a previously unknown souterrain was exposed and excavated by the writer for the Department of Archaeology, University College, Cork (Excavations 2003, No. 285, 03E1424). The test excavation forming the subject of this summary was carried out to establish the existence or otherwise of other potential archaeological monuments associated with the souterrain excavated in 2003.

The grass vegetation at the time of the test excavation was low and grazed and there were no surface anomalies to indicate denuded archaeological features in any of the tested areas. In all, seven test-trenches were excavated across those areas of the site where the new houses were to be constructed. The soil profile was mostly uniform in the trenches, consisting of sod, a layer of loose topsoil and underlying shale and orange boulder clay. All were excavated to a level into the natural subsoil and no features or finds of archaeological significance were noted in any of the investigated areas.