County: Tipperary Site name: Camlin 4
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E003746
Author: Gary Conboy, Valerie J. Keeley Ltd, Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.
Site type: Bronze Age enclosure and flat cremation cemetery
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 613895m, N 685653m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.921528, -7.793363
This site was identified during testing along the route of the proposed N7 Castletown–Nenagh road improvement scheme. Excavation was begun in October 2007 and completed in April 2008. The enclosure is just one of three to be found in the immediate area, the others consist of a ringfort and a sub-oval Bronze Age enclosure.
The main element of the site was a circular enclosure. The diameter of the enclosure was 39m north–south by 37m, the enclosure ditch measured on average 1.9m wide and was 1.3m deep with a flat base. The ditch fills contained animal bone (including antler) and some charcoal. Approximately 120 post-holes, stake-holes and pits were excavated within the interior; finds included sherds of prehistoric pottery (dated to the Mid- to late Bronze Age) and some stuck flint.
A flat cremation cemetery consisting of four pit burials was excavated within metres of the enclosure. One of the pits contained an upright urn dated to the Middle Bronze Age. A medieval iron axe was also discovered just outside the enclosure ditch; however, this artefact is not associated with the enclosure but may well be connected to one of the later enclosures within the general area of Camlin.
