County: Tipperary Site name: Tullahedy
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E003403
Author: Liam McKinstry, Headland Archaeology Ltd, Unit 1, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork.
Site type: Burnt-mound complex
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 584098m, N 677172m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.845249, -8.236057
This project was funded by the Irish government and the European Union through Limerick County Council and the National Roads Authority and under the National Development Plan 2000–2006. It forms part of the scheme to upgrade the N7 Limerick to Nenagh high-quality dual carriageway.
The site is situated c. 35m to the south, on the far side of the N7. It is truncated to the south-east by a railway line and bounded to the north by the N7 embankment. The area supports rough grass and occasional brambles and scrub.
Testing revealed a subcircular burnt mound measuring between 18m and 20m in diameter, with a depth of 0.5–1m. A number of phases were distinguished, with major activity relating to seven clay-lined troughs associated with pits, hearths, cobbled surfaces, as well as stake- and post-holes. Artefacts recovered range from possible microliths to iron rivets. Only a quarter of the site remained.
Upon topsoil-stripping the last quarter of the mound was revealed. This measured 12m north-west/south-east by 6.3m and was composed of heat-shattered stone and charcoal-rich deposits. Below the mound there were two troughs, one measuring 5.8m north–south by 4.4m and 0.8m in depth, the second 2.05m east–west by 1.6m and 0.7m in depth. The second trough had four associated stake-holes, one at the south-east corner, while the remaining three were found at the north-east corner. There were three associated pits located below the mound. Two of these were unlined and were filled with heat-shattered stone and charcoal-rich deposits, while the third, measuring 1.2m in diameter and 0.2m in depth, was filled with a non-heat-shattered stony silty sand deposit. This was below a dark-brownish-grey sandy silty clay that was below the mound itself and so the pit is believed to have been earlier than the mound. The second pit was 2.85m east–west by 1.6m and 0.25m in depth and the third 0.77m north-west/south-east by 0.5m and 0.19 in depth. A number of lithics were recovered, none of which showed definite signs of working.
Post-excavation analysis and reporting is ongoing.
