County: Waterford Site name: Bawnfune 2
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 06E0916
Author: Ian Russell, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd, Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth.
Site type: Prehistoric settlement activity
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 654777m, N 609727m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.236555, -7.198018
This site was excavated as part of the pre-construction archaeological mitigation of the proposed realignment of the nearby Bord Gáis pipeline. A total of three large pits, one possible pit and one hearth were exposed.
The first large pit measured 3.5m in length, 3m in width and 1.74m in depth and had been filled with a loose mid-brown silty clay (0.9m in thickness) which underlay the secondary fill: a loose dark-brown silty clay containing frequent inclusions of large sub-angular stones. The second large pit measured 2.82m in length, 1.53m in width and 0.75m in depth and had been filled with a loose mid-brown clay. The third large pit measured 3.6m in length, 2.5m in width and 1m in depth and had been filled with a loose dark-brown silty clay. A possible pit measured 1.06m in length, 1.02m in width and 0.04m in depth and had been filled with a loose mid-brown sandy clay. The hearth measured 1.1m in length, 0.66m in width and 0.18m in depth and contained a layer of burnt clay and a loose mid-brown silty clay.
Two slot-trenches and three post-holes were exposed 20m to the north. Flint artefacts, dating to the Neolithic period, and a possible sherd of prehistoric pottery were recovered from one of the slot-trenches. This portion of the site was excavated as part of the pre-construction archaeological mitigation of the N25 Waterford bypass, alternative route, by Anne-Marie Lennon in June 2007 (No. 1802 below, E3446).
Editor’s note: Although excavated during 2006, the report on this site arrived too late for inclusion in the bulletin of that year.
