2012:626 - GREATISLAND (Site 34-1), Wexford

Site 34-1 Greatisland was discovered during monitoring of topsoil stripping for the Bord Gáis Networks Gas to Great Island scheme (Excavations 2012, No. 334, 12E0356). A prehistoric hearth or pit, a post-hole and eight stake-holes were excavated. Agricultural furrows and a ditch that are of likely modern origin were also examined.

The hearth pit had a heat-reddened oxidised ‘halo’ around its edge, measured 1m by 0.7m and was 0.1m deep. A small piece of prehistoric pottery, struck flint and fragments of burnt bone were recovered from the hearth pit. The post-hole was 0.54m in diameter, had frequent large post packing stones and contained small pieces of flint debitage. Five stake-holes were seen to cluster around the hearth pit and it is very possible that these features represent a superstructure above the hearth. The stake-holes had diameters in the range 0.05m to 0.09m and a maximum depth of 0.18m. The other three stake-holes were arranged linearly and were slightly larger, with diameters ranging from 0.1m to 0.18m and depths between 0.08m and 0.17m.