County: Kildare Site name: Ballycullane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E002983
Author: Lydia Cagney, Headland Archaeology Ltd, Unit 1, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork.
Site type: Isolated pits/occupation remains
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 672552m, N 693611m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.988320, -6.919426
This site was excavated as part of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford scheme, Phase 3: Kilcullen to Carlow. The site was located in a large, gently undulating subrectangular field, which was under cultivation at the time of excavation and appears to have been used for arable purposes for numerous generations.
An area measuring 156m2 was stripped of topsoil and ploughsoil, revealing pits and three cultivation furrows, all of which were cut into an orange/brown glacial till subsoil. Excavation of these revealed two likely phases of activity, with the earlier of these possibly dating to a late prehistoric or early historic period, as evidenced by the presence of slag in a number of the pits, while the latter phase, present in the form of cultivation furrows, may have a post-medieval or early modern origin. Preliminary examination of the site suggests that the earlier phase of activity may be associated with ephemeral occupation activity, resulting from differential survival of features that had escaped centuries of ploughing. Five of the seven pits (averaging 0.84m by 0.79m by 0.23m in size) contained infrequent nodules of slag, while one of these also contained carbonised grain. One flint artefact was retrieved during excavation, a residual artefact obtained from the surface of the subsoil.
