County: Kildare Site name: BOLEYBEG
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E002855
Author: Emer Dennehy, for Headland Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 678971m, N 697172m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.019412, -6.822965
This site was excavated as part of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford scheme, Phase 3: Kilcullen to Carlow. The site was initially identified as a possible enclosure during an aerial survey of the proposed road route. Subsequent testing of the site by IAC identified it as a burnt mound, measuring 14.5m by 11m by 0.13m in depth. Topsoil clearance and excavation work on this site took place on 6–31 July 2007.
An initial area of 625m2 was subsequently extended to the south-east, to fully expose all potential archaeological stratigraphy on site. The excavation work revealed that the burnt mound was situated on a raised area of land within a low-level plain. It is for this reason that it had the appearance of an enclosure site when initially identified in aerial photographs. The site is defined in the north-east by a canalised stream, which severely truncated this portion of the site. The mound was further disturbed though late 20th-century land drainage activity, which caused the displacement of the mound in an eastern direction.
The excavation work illustrated that the mound proper was confined to the north-west portion of the site; it was sub-oval in plan and measured 16m north-west by 9m. The mound material had an average depth of just 0.1m and predominantly comprised heat-shattered sandstone in a charcoal-enriched matrix. Six roasting pits/troughs were identified, two of which, Pits 040 (0.98m by 0.74m by 0.185m) and 050 (1.28m by 0.91m by 0.13m), were identified external to the mound material. This suggests the possibility that the mound was originally horseshoe-shaped in plan. The cut features had an average depth of just 0.2m and were excavated into the underlying grey sand and gravel natural. Their location beneath the mound prohibits the interpretation that they were truncated by modern land-reclamation activity.
At least two phases of site use were identified, with analysis of the site matrix indicating that peat formation had commenced, albeit to a limited degree, prior to the construction of the burnt mound. Detailed post-excavation analysis of the site is ongoing.
Unit 1, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork
