2015:166 - KNOCKHOUSE LOWER (Area 2), Waterford

Excavation was undertaken in Archaeological Area 2 at Knockhouse Lower in advance of Phase 2 of an industrial development. Excavation followed a series of archaeological assessments of the zoned land carried out over the past 17 years including desk-top studies, walkovers, geophysical surveys and test excavation.The remains in Archaeological Area 2 had been identified during test trenching carried out in 2014 and 2015 under excavation licences 14E0325 and 14E0325ext.

Prior to construction of Phase 1 of the development a variety of previously undocumented archaeological sites had been identified and excavated in eleven separate locations. These included: an enclosure, a burnt mound, a cremation burial and a cooking pit of Bronze Age date; a group of cereal drying kilns, a small circular structure and a field boundary ditch of early medieval date, and post-medieval field boundary ditches.

For the purposes of excavation, Archaeological Area 2 was sub-divided into three separate cuttings. Cutting 1 contained the remains of a truncated burnt mound, Cutting 2 contained the remains of a second, truncated burnt mound and Cutting 3 contained the remains of a charcoal-production kiln. All archaeologically significant features within each of the cuttings were fully excavated. A small number of post-medieval artefacts were recovered from a ditch in Cutting 3. Following completion of the excavation the ground level within the cuttings was reduced and all former archaeological features were backfilled.

Post-excavation analyses are ongoing.