2010:192 - Roshin, Donegal

Monitoring on the Killybegs sewerage scheme was carried out in 2010 and 2011. The scheme can be subdivided into five sections or areas. These are referred to as the ‘upgrading of the existing treatment plant and pumping stations’, ‘town section’, ‘rural road section’, ‘land outfall’ and ‘marine outfall’.
The works at the existing treatment plant and pumping stations in Killybegs were carried out within existing landscaped wastewater treatment facilities in and around Killybegs town where no archaeological material was identified.
The ‘town section’ involved the excavation of c. 2km of pipe trenches within the urban environs of Killybegs town, along existing streets and roads. The excavations to install pipes did not uncover archaeological material and much of the work was undertaken within the new port road, which was composed of modern fill material.
The ‘rural road section’ involves the excavation of c. 1.4km of pipe trench in existing road on the fringes of the town. A possible fulacht fiadh was identified on the Roshin Road 0.5 km east of the Marine Engineering Factories. The site was buried and remains intact as the pipeline was relocated to avoid the site.
The ‘land outfall’ involves the construction of a pipeline across a 1.2km stretch of rural farmland to the south of Killybegs in Roshin townland. The rural pipeline is located c. 50m from the site of an unclassified megalithic tomb (DG097–034). The pipe corridor is located within a varied topography but mainly on lowland or hill and drumlin positions. Most of this land is currently farmed at moderate to low intensity. Little more than half of the land class has sufficiently good soils on fairly amenable terrain and in sizeable, compact blocks to support intensive livestock farming on holdings of 50 to 100 acres. The remainder is made up of soils with distinct physical limitations; e.g. shallow, rocky, steeply sloping, and small enclaves of better land scattered throughout the other land classes, such as bog and forest.
Five pits were located on the western crest of a rock outcrop. The area of small agricultural holdings in which the site was discovered is peppered with small woodlands where natural oak and hazel predominate as the principal forest species. The area where the archaeological activity was identified was confined to a relatively level platform measuring 7m east–west by 12m. The drainage around the site was poor due to the impermeable nature of the underlying geology and deposits of localised peaty soil were located to the immediate north and east. The area where the pits were identified consisted of dry boulder clay located adjacent to and overlying the bedrock. The small cluster of archaeological deposits was sited at the point where the boulder clay lay adjacent to rock outcrop. In places the archaeological deposits lay directly over the rock. The deposits have been dated to the early Neolithic (ref: UBA 17863, 2 sigma 3765–3650 bc), based upon a 14C date retrieved from Pit 3. A single broken flint scraper and numerous quart artifacts were also retrieved from the pits. No significant macro-fossil plant remains were recovered from the site; however, there was an abundance of charcoal. The quartz assemblage was dominated by the presence of cores; this was seen as unusual by the lithics specialist analysing the assemblage, Killian Driscoll, and he suggested that the pattern reflected selective deposition as opposed to a domestic scatter of waste flakes and tools. The position of the site overlooking the megalithic tomb may relate the function of the pits.
The ‘marine outfall’ is being constructed by drilling through solid rock from the dry land out to the seabed. The area was subject to a separate marine archaeological investigation.