County: Roscommon Site name: Cloonfineen
Sites and Monuments Record No.: RO032–027, RO032–028 Licence number: 08E0669 ext.
Author: Dominic Delany, Dominic Delany & Associates, Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 557343m, N 772523m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.700670, -8.645991
A third phase of monitoring of topsoil removal took place in advance of the extension to a quarry at Cloonfineen, Co. Roscommon (Excavations 2008, No. 1026; Excavations 2009, No. 695). The site is in the vicinity of a ringfort and enclosure. An excavator with a toothed bucket cleared the overgrowth and bushes from a gravel ridge, and a bulldozer stripped the soil down on to the sand and gravel deposits. The stratigraphy was consistent with a 50mm sod layer overlying yellow/brown to orange/brown clayey sand subsoil. The subsoil averaged 0.4m in thickness and overlay grey coarse sand and gravel with frequent inclusions of small rounded cobbles and moderate inclusions of medium cobbles. Topsoil removal was also monitored on the line of a haul route. Nothing of archaeological significance was found in either area.
