County: Roscommon Site name: Ballinphuill 1
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 10E0305
Author: James Kyle, Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, 120b Greenpark Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Site type: Neolithic activity
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 566117m, N 793980m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.894117, -8.515480
Excavation of Ballinphuill 1 was undertaken in advance of the N5 Ballaghaderreen bypass, Co. Roscommon. Ballinphuill 1 was discovered during a first phase of testing along the proposed bypass undertaken in 2009 by Nial O’Neili of Headland Archaeology (Excavations 2009, No. 699, 09E0475). The Stage (iii) excavation work was undertaken between 18 and 20 August 2010.
Ballinphuill 1 comprised an area of Neolithic activity. A calibrated radiocarbon date of 2460–2150 bc (SUERC–27342) was returned from charred hazelnut shell from the curvilinear feature identified during testing.
The entire area was crossed with ploughmarks and furrows and was obviously heavily truncated in the past. It is likely that the deposits represent the remnant of a heavily truncated habitation site which appears to have once been located on the edge of a shallow wetland.
