2008:778 - Island Mac Téige/Aughinish West/Glenbane West, Limerick

A three-phased project was carried out on a development site in Aughinish Island, Co. Limerick, in January, March and April 2007. Monitoring of townland boundary removal, recording of six sites of Cultural Heritage interest, additional test-trenching and an excavation were carried out in tandem on the site.
The development site spans the three townlands of Island Mac Téige, Aughinish West and Glenbane West. It lies within the Shannon Estuary, c. 17km west of Limerick city, and comprises sixteen fields in total.
The site is owned by Aughinish Alumina Ltd, who currently operate an aluminium plant to the north of the development site. Works within the plant consist of the dissolution and processing of imported bauxite within a caustic soda in order to extract alumina for export to worldwide smelters. Residue left over from the process is stored within a Bauxite Residual Disposal Area (BRDA); the current BRDA bounds the development site to the north. Development plans propose the creation of a second BRDA to the south of the existing one, as well as three borrow pits across the site. Glacial till removed from the latter will form a composite lining system for the base of the proposed BRDA. This will aid environmental protection.
Previous works on the development site include an environmental impact assessment (Deery 2004) and a subsequent geophysical survey (Harrison 2007). Anomalies noted during the survey were further tested in 2007 (Excavations 2007, No. 1114); a burnt spread as well as eight other areas of possible archaeological interest were uncovered during this testing phase.
The burnt spread (Area 2) was excavated in March and April 2008 in tandem with further investigation of Areas 1 and 3–9; all works were carried out under an extension and alteration to the existing testing and monitoring licence. Monitoring of the removal of two hedgerows and one townland boundary (delineating Aughinish East from Aughinish West) and the recording of six sites of cultural heritage were also carried out during the site investigations. An extra test-trench was also inserted at the request of the client close to the site of LI010–022 (enclosure). Although this area is outside the eastern limits of the development site, Aughinish Alumina Ltd were considering the area for machine access and egress.
Further investigations in Areas 1 and 3–9 showed the features to be either geological anomalies or results of agricultural activities on the site. The removal of the burnt spread in Area 2 revealed a subrectangular pit (F.7), which was c. 0.51m deep and contained a 1.18m long (east–west) and c. 0.5m wide horizontal oak plank at its base. The plank was laid on a bed of gravelly clay and silt. Mortise and tenon joints were visible in the eastern and western ends of the plank to create vertical and opposing ‘header’ and ‘footer’ oak features and the remnants of a grooved side panel were present along the north-western end of the plank. Worked hazel and ash stakes had been set vertically into the gravelly clay alongside the southern and northern lengths of the oak plank; they may have been incorporated into some form of superstructure above the trough. One of these stakes has been radiocarbon dated to 1612–1494 cal bc (UBA–10274). The trough was probably used in association with a rectangular structure present to its west, which was formed by four groups of stake-holes. Evidence of scorching was visible within the structure and it is thought to have been built to house a fire; it may have been joined to the roof above the trough.
An earlier phase of activity was uncovered when the latter features were excavated. Three pits, two of which appeared to have been lined with hazel wattle, were present. Pit F.82 was located directly to the west of pit F.7 and consisted of an ovoid cut in its southern end, which sloped northwards from a shallow depth of c. 0.1m to c. 1m. A lip or shelf was present along the north-western side. It contained a redeposited fill at its base within which a cattle bone had been thrown, while above this estuarine mud had naturally built up. It was within this fill that the stake-holes of the later phase had been set. Pit F.54 consisted of a shallow cut which was lined with hazel. There were five stake-holes present around its eastern edge, each of which contained the environmental remains of the decayed wooden stakes. Radiocarbon dating from charcoal present at the base of the pit placed the feature in the Early Bronze Age (2491–2292 cal bc; UBA–10273). Another shallow pit (F.71) was noted outside the limits of the burnt mound. It appeared to also have been lined with wood.
All further siteworks are currently being monitored. It is anticipated that these works will be completed in 2010.
References
Deery, S. 2004 Environmental Impact Statement, Architecture, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, Aughinish Alumnia, Aughinish, Co. Limerick. Unpublished report, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Harrison, D. 2007 Geophysical Survey Report: Neworchard, Co. Kilkenny. (Licence 07R0053)