2018:855 - Knockloon Hill, Leamaneh North, Clare

During the Summer of 2018 students and staff of The Irish Fieldschool of Prehistoric Archaeology conducted archaeological excavations on barrow CL016-037 (Figure 1) and associated geophysical anomalies on Knockloon Hill in Leamaneh townland, Co. Clare.

Three trenches were excavated, one over the barrow and two on an enclosure just over 20m to its east (Figure 2).
The trench (T1) over the barrow uncovered remains dating from the Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age to the early medieval period, including:
• a cremation of Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age date containing a perforated stone and a hone stone,
• a previously unknown standing stone at the centre of the barrow, that appears to have been intentionally broken in antiquity,
• an enigmatic tool, possibly a dapping and doming tool for raising sheet metal,
• glass beads of several types,
• probable evidence for glass bead manufacture,
• an early medieval cremation containing a 6th- to 9th-century AD glass bead,
• and evidence of feasting
The trenches (T2 & 3) over the other enclosure revealed it to be enclosed by a ditch and internal bank, with very few internal features.
Post-excavation analyses are ongoing.
The preliminary report is available on the author's academia page https://independent.academia.edu/RosOMaolduin and 3D models of the excavation are viewable on the fieldschool's sketchfab page https://sketchfab.com/irishfieldschool

[caption id="attachment_48928" align="alignleft" width="750"] Layout of the trenches on Knockloon[/caption]

10 McEoin Pk, Longford, Co. Longford