County: Roscommon Site name: Peak 7
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E5309, Ministerial Direction No. A077
Author: John Channing
Site type: Burnt spread with troughs
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 576884m, N 787981m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.840800, -8.351234
Peak 7 was excavated in advance of construction of the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road Project in County Roscommon by Archaeological Management Solutions (AMS) for Roscommon County Council (RCC) and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). The site consisted of a burnt spread with two troughs located in bogland, to the east of Bellanagare, County Roscommon.
The site was initially identified through archaeological Stage (ii) additional topsoil stripping carried out by AMS under Ministerial Direction (Direction No. A077, Registration No. E5070). The testing found a burnt spread 9m by 7.6m in plan and 0.15m deep (Hardy 2021). The on-site Stage (iii) Excavation Services at Peak 7 were undertaken between 8 January and 26 March 2021 (including a break when the site was closed due to government restrictions associated with Covid 19 pandemic restrictions). The archaeological remains consisted of a burnt spread, two adjacent troughs and a cluster of stake-holes around the north-west ends of the troughs. The most northern trough (C.5, L:2.3m W:1.5m D:0.48m) contained a thick base lining of moss while the second trough (C.59, L:1.95 W:1.07m D:0.25m) was lined by worked timbers/planks. Both were located at the southeast edge of a burnt spread.
A possible leather pouch (E5309:2) was located in the moss lining of trough C.5 while a bone point (E5309:1) was retrieved from behind the side planking of trough C.59. The bone point has parallels in Bronze Age burials and may have been a body or costume adornment. The stake-holes, though in close proximity to the troughs, could not be stratigraphically sequenced and did not present an identified pattern in plan.
c/o Archaeological Management Solutions (AMS) Ltd, Fahy’s Road, Kilrush, Co. Clare
