2012:536 - Moneygold, Sligo

Test excavations were carried out on the site of a proposed extension to Ahamlish Cemetery, Grange, County Sligo on 30 and 31 January 2012. The site is a green field adjacent to the old parish church and graveyard of Ahamlish (SL005-005) and a short distance northeast of St Molaise’s Well (SL005-004). The presence of a couple of cross-slabs in the graveyard suggests a possible Early Christian date for this complex. Testing was preceded by a geophysical survey using magnetic gradiometry and electrical resistivity. The results showed a number of anomalous features which were interpreted as possibly archaeological in nature. The most intriguing of these was “A pair of trends extending from G4 (another ditch feature) to the northeast (which) might represent a double-ditch feature or trackway” (Earthsound, 2011). Invasive testing comprised the excavation of six trenches (L 40-80m, Wth 1.8m) extending north-south across the field. The results indicated archaeological activity at the site dating from the Bronze Age to the Early Christian period. Features uncovered included a small cremation pit typical of Bronze Age funerary practice, and a burnt spread indicative of a fulacht fiadh, a common field monument type which may date from the Bronze Age to the early Christian period. A substantial ditch feature uncovered in Trench 2 yielded a blue glass bead and some iron slag, finds diagnostic of the Early Christian period. Possible ditch features uncovered in Trenches 3, 4 and 5 may be related to the substantial ditch feature in Trench 2 suggesting the presence of a curvilinear enclosure extending north-east/south-west. Preservation in situ was recommended.

Dominic Delany & Associates, Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway.