County: Galway Site name: Killarainy 5
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: E4579
Author: Shane Delaney
Site type: Hearth, post- and stake-holes
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 520977m, N 733367m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.344620, -9.186740
Killarainy 5 was excavated (under Ministerial Directions A067), in advance of construction of the N59 Moycullen Bypass, Co. Galway. The site was discovered during advance testing undertaken in 2014 by IAC Ltd (E4512).
A concentration of stake-holes, post-holes and a hearth at Killarainy 5 suggest that it may be the remnants of a settlement or camp.
Four charcoal types, all of native origin, were identified from the environmental assemblage excavated across the site. The charcoal assemblage indicated fuel collected locally from a dryland environment where oak woods were accessible and possibly managed. Archaeobotanical analysis of deposits from the hearth, post- and stake-holes revealed a small quantity of charred plant remains, including three cereal grain fragments and hazelnut shell.
A very small quantity of burnt bone was retrieved from the site. It was not possible to identify any elements of the bone due to small fragment size and the worn condition of the surface.
Charcoal from the central hearth was radiocarbon dated to the early medieval period. One single utilised chert flake was recovered from the topsoil at the site and may be a residual prehistoric artefact.
IAC Ltd, Unit G1, Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
