2008:099 - Putiaghan Upper 3, Cavan

Excavation took place on 13 and 14 March 2008 along the route of the proposed N3 Butlersbridge to Belturbet road improvement scheme for Cavan County Council and the National Roads Authority. Putiaghan Upper 3 was one of three sites excavated on the Shore of Putiaghan Lake. The sites at Putiaghan Upper 2–4 (see No. 98 above and No. 100 below) could be part of an overall industrial complex.
The site was divided into three areas (Areas A–C) according to the concentration of features.
Area A, adjacent to Putiaghan Upper 2, contained four small non-archaeologically significant areas of burning. The second area was the main archaeological area and the third was adjacent to Putiaghan Upper 4 and contained a small charcoal spread, 1.15m by 0.65m by 0.05m. The spread overlay an area of intense oxidisation. It is assumed this is the remains of a single instance of in situ burning.
The largest deposit of Area B was a spread 6.8m by 6.4m by 0.09m comprising a grey/brown clayey sand that contained occasional small pebbles, burnt bone and frequent charcoal. This deposit was overlain by a deposit of hill-wash; both of these deposits were truncated by a north–south-running linear drain.
Another spread in turn overlay a mix of hill-wash and lacustrine flood deposits. This was a firm light-grey/dark-black silty clay, containing frequent charcoal and occasional burnt bone measuring 1.7m by 1.35m by 0.1–0.22m. Cremated bone was recovered from this spread and was at first interpreted as the intentional processing of remains for ritualistic purpose; as yet unidentified, the bone may also have been used as a fuel in conjunction with charcoal or timber.
The spread of heat-shattered stone and charcoal-rich material may have been associated with burnt-mound activity and is likely to be Bronze Age in date.