2015:439 - MULLYMUCKS (1), Roscommon

The proposed scheme is a c. 2.5km section of the N61 between Roscommon town and the village of Coolteige north of the town. Testing of the scheme was undertaken in May 2015. This comprised testing of geophysical anomalies and testing across the remainder of the scheme previously tested under licence 15E0138, and revealed the presence of a previously unidentified inhumation burial.

Full excavation of this site was undertaken under an extension to the testing licence and confirmed the presence of an inhumation burial, which was identified as an adult female (33-45 yrs). A tooth from the burial was dated to AD 696–888. A second adult female (30–34 yrs) was recognised from the assemblage of disarticulated bones collected from the site.

Three pits and two post-medieval linear features were also recorded within the site. The pits were all filled with medium/large stones, suggesting that they may have been rapidly backfilled following clay extraction. One of the pits was dated to AD 695–884. The identification of charcoal fragments (hazel, ash, blackthorn/cherry, oak, pomoideae and elm) and cereal grains (barley, wheat and oats) in the pits suggests that the area was part of an open farmed landscape, where scrubland and secondary woodland were present and growing.