County: Mayo Site name: Knockaphunta
Sites and Monuments Record No.: NA Licence number: 16E0056
Author: Billy Quinn
Site type: Burnt Mound
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 513654m, N 788986m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.843171, -9.312082
An archaeological excavation of a burnt mound, in advance of a house development took place over five days from the 22nd of February 2016 at Knockaphunta, Castlebar, Co. Mayo. The site had been identified in December 2015 by Mr. Richard Crumlish during pre-development testing (Licence No. 15E0384). The excavation area was located two fields to the south of a house development at Mount Gordon, Knockaphunta, near the Westport Road to the south west of Castlebar town, Co. Mayo. The subject site was in a marshy pasture that gradually sloped from north to south; the in western half of the field (ITM E 513654 / N788986).
The single cutting measured 12m NNW/SSE by 12m WNW/SSE. Prior to full excavation the site was divided into quadrants divided by a cross shaped baulk 0.5cm wide. This baulk was retained in situ until the end of the excavation providing the opportunity to draw 1:10 section drawings through both axis.
(C1) the surface layer was composed of a mantle of rough grass and sod over a spongy dark brown peat covering the entire site, this averaged 150mm in depth and contained no’s 11 modern finds including 6 sherds of modern pottery and a twentieth century clay pipe bowl stamped ‘Castlebar’. Below this near the centre of the cutting and covering the burnt mound proper (C3) was a sub circular layer of blackened peat with a moderate amount of stone (C2). The frequency and depth of the stone decreased radiating from the centre. This blackened peat measured approximately 8.3m N/S by 6.9m E/W and was 500mm deep. There were no finds recovered from this layer nor was there any charcoal fragments. Underlying (C2) was the burnt mound (C3) composed of a concentration of heat fractured shale/sandstones averaging between 0.5-10mm in length in a sandy peat with very occasional charcoal fragments. (C3) was roughly kidney shaped and measured 6m N/S by between 2-3m in width by 300mm in depth. This layer contained no finds. The mound overlay a thin lens of peat (C5) on a natural grey white marl clay with a sandstone gravels (C5). There was no evidence of a hearth or trough evident. An un-specied sample of charcoal retrieved from the burnt mound (C3) was radiocarbon dated to approximately 1391-1336 BC coinciding with Ireland’s Middle Bronze Age.
Moore Archaeological and Environmental Services, 3 Gort na Ri, Athenry, Co. Galway
