2020:349 - Castlegal 2, Sligo

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Sligo Site name: Castlegal 2

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E005260 (also R00544 and Ministerial Consent Ref. No. A079)

Author: Denis Shine

Site type: Ring-ditch and associated pits etc.

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 571682m, N 840549m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.312896, -8.435185

Stage (iii) Excavations were undertaken at Castlegal as part of the N16 Lugatober (Drumkilsellagh to Lugnagall) Road Project, Co. Sligo. Castlegal 2 was discovered in the southern section of the scheme during advance Stage (i) Test Excavations undertaken in 2020 by AMS (Dowling and McKee 2020; Registration Nos.: E005188 and R00544; Ministerial Consent Ref.: A079).

The on-site Stage (iii) Excavation Services at Castlegal 2 were undertaken between 9 and 20 November 2020. The site consisted of a ring-ditch (measuring 7m in diameter x 0.93m x 0.44m) with five fills, one of which contained a piece of worked chert. No features were found on the interior of the ring-ditch, although three pits (including one containing three stake-holes) were cut through it. A series of 12 pits, 2 post-holes 2 stake-holes and 2 furrows were also recorded outside the ring-ditch. One of these pits was found to contain Bronze Age(?) pottery, as well as a single lithic. The furrows which cut the ring-ditch are thought to be post-medieval or modern, based on the recovery of brick from one of their fills. Soil samples were taken from the fill of each suitable feature with the intention of obtaining several radiocarbon dates, should suitable organic remains be present.

Castlegal 2 is located 60m west of Castlegal 3, a second ring-ditch and set of pits. Several other prehistoric sites were also found in adjacent townlands during the N16 Lugatober (Drumkilsellagh to Lugnagall) Road Project, including a palisaded enclosure (Castlegal 4) and a cluster of Bronze Age pits (Drumkilsellagh 2), located 200m to the north-east and 280m to the south-east respectively. These new discoveries are in addition to previously known archaeological monuments including a wedge tomb (SL009-031) in Drumkilsellagh and an embanked barrow (SL009-030) and ring barrow (SL009-027) in Castlegal townland itself. Collectively, the excavations and known monuments point to a socialised and inhabited landscape in prehistory, most likely in the Bronze Age.

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