County: Clare Site name: Gortafricka 1
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A044; E3898
Author: Jo Nunan, IAC Ltd, 120b Greenpark Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 539555m, N 689198m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.950171, -8.899447
A burnt spread was discovered in Gortafricka townland in North County Clare during test excavations by the writer on the route of the N18 Gort to Crusheen road for Galway County Council. The site lies at 33.35m OD and was situated on the edge of wetland with a steep slope to the north and west. This field is currently under pasture. Gortafricka 1 was excavated in May 2008.
The site consisted of an irregular spread of compact, heat-fractured limestone and sandstone within a charcoal/peat matrix. It measured 8m north–south by 5m and survived to a depth of 0.2m. The only find, an animal tusk provisionally identified as that of pig, came from the base of peat subsoil above the natural subsoil. The burnt spread may have been created as a result of slash and burn disturbance or from modern land clearance. An adjacent burnt mound, Gortafricka 2 (see No. 127 below), was discovered 45m to the west of Gortafricka 1.
