County: Cork Site name: MACRONEY UPPER
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 09E0197
Author: Nikolah Gilligan, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, 27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 586633m, N 604209m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.189523, -8.195493
Excavation of Site 10.1 in Macroney Upper townland, Co. Cork, was carried out for Bord G$is !ireann. The site was identified during monitoring carried out by Bernice Molloy of topsoil-stripping along the corridor of the Curraleigh West to Midleton pipeline scheme between March and May 2009. Site 10.1 was subsequently excavated between March and April 2009.
Excavation of this site revealed a burnt mound and a number of pits, troughs and stake-holes. The burnt mound measured 16m in diameter and was 0.14m deep; it had been truncated by later activity on the site. A smaller spread of burnt-mound material was located to the north of the large mound. This was probably dragged or separated from the main spread by plough action.
Five subrectangular or oval troughs were excavated. One appeared to have an associated metalled surface, while stake-holes were located either within or beside all of the troughs. Seventeen pits were also excavated. They varied in morphology and, while some of the pits were definitely associated with the burnt mound, others may have post-dated this activity.
Specialist analysis is ongoing and it is expected that the final report will be completed in 2010.
