County: Clare Site name: Knockyclovaun 4
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E005280
Author: Bruce Sutton for Rubicon Heritage
Site type: Charcoal-rich deposits, pit, furrows
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 569382m, N 672537m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.802954, -8.454070
Excavation at Knockyclovaun 4 was undertaken as part of the Killaloe Bypass, Shannon Crossing and R494 Improvements Scheme, Archaeological Consultancy Services Contract (Phase 2). The excavation was carried out on behalf of, and funded by, Clare County Council.
The nature of the deposits at Knockyclovaun 4 suggest field clearance and agricultural activity over millennia.
Early Neolithic activity was represented by burnt deposit C005. Radiocarbon dates from burnt spread C005 signal activity in this area during the Early Neolithic around 4325-4056 cal BC (SUERC-111385; 5358±25 BP). Specialist analysis of charcoal from this deposit revealed an assemblage comprising mainly of oak, with ash used for fuelwood.
Middle Bronze Age deposit C004 was situated within a depression, C011, in the south-east corner of site. Specialist analysis of the charcoal assemblage from deposit C004 was all oak, a sample of which revealed a date of 1394-1213 cal BC (SUERC-111385; 5358±25 BP).
Features not directly dated through radiocarbon dating and not attributed to a clear phase included pit C010 located towards the western limit of the excavated area and six further irregular charcoal-rich deposits (C006; C007; C008; C017; C018). These were determined to be the remnants of field clearance similar to C004 and C005. Later activity at Knockyclovaun 4 is represented by a series of agricultural furrows generally associated with the later medieval and post-medieval periods, with these furrows causing disturbance to the earlier features.
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