County: Dublin Site name: Southwest Business Park, Cheeverstown, Tallaght
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 21E0303
Author: David Bayley
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 705953m, N 728218m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.293660, -6.410698
An archaeological excavation took place between 6 and 15 December 2021 at Southwest Business Park (SWBP), Cheeverstown, Tallaght, Dublin 24 in advance of a proposed Business Park development.
Excavation revealed a heavily disturbed burnt spread, four troughs, two pits, and a large post-hole. A second posth-ole was cut into the base of one of the troughs. The nature of the fills of all the features excavated indicate burnt spread/hot stone activity, where stones are heated in a fire before being placed in a trough of water in order to boil the water.
No artefacts were retrieved from any of the excavated features, and thus sampled materials are the only form of potential diagnostic material retrieved from site. Burnt mounds may date from the Neolithic through to the early medieval period; the majority of examples, however, predominantly date to the Middle to Late Bronze Age.
The preliminary site interpretation has been based on stratigraphic relationships and typological similarities between features that were identified during the excavation works. It is hoped that further post-excavation works and radiocarbon dates will add to our understanding and interpretation of the site, which will then be placed in its wider local and regional archaeological context within the final report.
c/o IAC Archaeology Ltd, Unit G1 Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
