County: Limerick Site name: Gaelcholáiste Luimnigh, Clare Street, Monamuck, Limerick
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 21E0013
Author: Kate Taylor
Site type: Burnt stone spread and fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 558725m, N 657360m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.665843, -8.610199
An archaeological excavation was carried out at the site of a proposed Gaelcholáiste at Clare Street, Limerick, in Monamuck townland. The site was subject to earlier test excavation in May 2020 under licence 20E0165 (2020:076), this earlier investigation revealed three potential areas of archaeological interest. Subsequent excavation work revealed an Early Bronze Age burnt stone spread and a Middle Bronze Age fulacht fia consisting of a burnt stone spread and a trough, further details of which are provided below. A small assemblage of struck chert, a hammerstone and some animal bone were retrieved.
A burnt stone spread at the eastern edge of the site represented the earliest human activity; the spread measured 8.7m east to west by 5.24m and was at most 0.4m thick. Pomaceous fruitwood charcoal from the spread returned a date of 2132-2086 cal. BC (UBA-49534; 3637 BP ± 27), dating its use to the Early Bronze Age. Three chert flakes were recovered from this spread.
Several hundred years after its use in the Early Bronze Age, the site was revisited; this later activity was represented by a trough and another burnt stone spread. This second, larger burnt stone spread was located in the western half of the site, 9.2m to the south-west of the earlier spread; it measured 13.76m north to south by 12.58m and was at most 0.49m thick. A single unlined trough was identified in its north-west quadrant, this trough was aligned north-east to south-west with steeply sloping sides and a concave base and measured 2.7m by 1.07m wide with a maximum depth of 0.24m. The western side of the feature was truncated by a post-medieval drain. The trough contained two fills; hazel charcoal from the basal fill was radiocarbon dated to 1371-1356 cal. BC (UBA49533; 2989 BP ± 25 BP) placing the use of the trough in the Middle Bronze Age. Willow charcoal recovered from sampling of the spread returned a radiocarbon determination of 1392-1336 cal. BC (UBA49535; 3025 BP ± 27 BP), approximately contemporary with the underlying trough. A hammerstone or rubbing stone and a chert scraper were also recovered from the spread. Additionally, a single worked red deer antler was recovered from alluvial silt underlying the spread.
TVAS (Ireland) Ltd Ahish, Ballinruan, Crusheen, Co. Clare
