2007:1597 - Camlin 2, Tipperary

This site was identified during testing along the route of the proposed N7 Castletown to Nenagh road improvement scheme. Excavation was carried out in August/September 2007. Topsoil-stripping revealed five burnt mounds.
Mound 1 measured 12.5m by 13m and 0.18m deep. It had an oval shallow pit/trough beneath that measured 1.8m by 2.6m by 0.2m deep and was lined on its base with six large yellow flat sandstones.
Mound 2 measured 15m by 15m and 0.45m deep. It sealed a shallow rectangular trough measuring 1.25m by 1.9m and c. 0.1m deep. Two wooden planks, 1.51m and 1.72m long and 0.38m wide, were found on the base of the trough, presumably remains of a wooden lining
Mound 3 measured 13m in diameter and c. 0.1m deep. It sealed a small oval pit/trough that measured 1.3m by 1.1m and 0.3m deep.
Mound 4 measured c. 4m in diameter and 0.1m deep. Below it were two possible shallow troughs, one cutting the other. The first was rectangular in shape and measured 2m by 1.5m and 0.38m deep, while the second was 1.36m by 1.34m and 0.4m deep and subrectangular in shape.
Mound 5 was up to 0.32m deep and measured 14m by 13m. It overlay a rectangular trough that had been severely truncated by later agricultural activity which has left only the base intact. The trough measured 1.65m by 1m and c. 0.1m deep. Lining the base of the trough were four timbers measuring c. 1.6m long and 0.08–0.2m wide. As with Mound 2, these timbers are in a poor condition and in a poor state of preservation. Initial inspection shows no signs of working. These timbers are more rounded in cross-section, unlike the flat timbers of Mound 2, indicating a different style of construction. Around the base of the trough were the preserved points of seven wooden stakes that would have supported timber planking along the sides of the trough. The majority of these had clear toolmarks evident, with some having tapered points and others squared bases. At the southern end of the trough a wooden plank with a tapered point was set in the ground and held in place by a wooden stake.
Approximately 4.4m to the north-west of Mound 3 was a large circular pit that measured 6m by 5.13m and 0.75m deep. It was flat-bottomed and contained a large amount of grey alluvial and silted clays within it. It also produced some fragments of animal teeth from these layers. It may have been used for water collection/storage, etc., for the nearby burnt mounds. It may also have been possible to redirect the natural flow of water coming downslope from the north and north-west into this feature for later use.