County: Clare Site name: TULLYMONGAN LOWER 1–5
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 11E0024
Author: James Kyle
Site type: Burnt mounds and areas of burning
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 642219m, N 804702m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.989692, -7.355393
Tullymongan Lower 1-5 were discovered during testing undertaken along the proposed Cavan Town Centre Eastern Access Road in November 2010 by Ed O’Donovan, IAC Ltd (Excavations 2010, no. 81, 10E0433). The sites, excavated between 16 February and 1 March 2011, were located within the townland of Tullymongan Lower to the east of Cavan town.
Tullymongan Lower 1 comprised a large, upstanding burnt mound, measuring 13.5m x 13m x 1.4m deep. The site was located c. 40m north-east of Tullymongan Lower 4. The burnt mound comprised a total of ten layers or deposits. No troughs, features or artefacts were found in association with the burnt mound. Charcoal from the primary burnt mound layer returned a late Neolithic/early Bronze Age date (2463–2208 BC).
Tullymongan Lower 2 comprised an area of oxidised natural clay which was interpreted as evidence of modern burning and vegetation clearance and as such had no archaeological significance.
A burnt mound, measuring 10.3m x 6.5m x 0.2m, was excavated at Tullymongan Lower 3. The burnt mound deposit was associated with a trough and a small pit. Charcoal from the burnt mound material returned a late Neolithic/early Bronze Age date (2465–2291 BC).
Tullymongan Lower 4 consisted of a single oval spread of heated stone and charcoal-rich clay, measuring 3.5m x 1.8m x 0.09m. The site was c. 20m north of Tullymongan Lower 5. No associated features or artefacts were found on site. Charcoal from the spread material was dated to the early medieval period (AD 776–936).
A spread of burnt mound material, measuring 9.8m x 6.2m x 0.38m, was excavated at Tullymongan Lower 5. A trough and a linear channel were recorded beneath the burnt mound deposit. Both trough and channel naturally filled with groundwater and it was thought that the channel may have fed the trough. No artefacts were retrieved from the site. Charcoal from a sample of burnt mound material returned an early Bronze Age date (2025–1881 BC).
Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, 120b Greenpark Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow
