County: Roscommon Site name: Gortnacrannagh 7
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A077; E5221
Author: Eve Campbell
Site type: Multi-period wetland and dryland site
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 585880m, N 786200m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.825118, -8.214464
The archaeological potential of the lands adjoining the Owenur River in Gortnacrannagh and Killeen East townlands was highlighted in the EIAR (Roughan & O’Donovan/AECOM 2017, chapter 14, 226), citing the recovery of human skulls and bronze artefacts from the river. Damp conditions rendered the environs of Gortnacrannagh 7 unsuitable for geophysical survey (Nicholls 2019). The first confirmed archaeological remains at the site were identified during Stage (i)a Standard Test Excavations carried out by Archaeological Management Solutions Ltd (AMS) under Ministerial Direction (Direction No.: A077, Registration No.: E5070): a burnt spread and three pits were found at the site (Hardy 2021, 203). The presence of wetland archaeological remains at the site was established during Stage (ii) Phase 2 Pre-Excavation Services with the discovery of the anthropomorphic notched oak figure (E5221:30) and ard (E5221:4). The development would have removed all trace of the building identified as Gortnacrannagh 7.
Gortnacrannagh 7 was an extensive multi-period dryland/wetland site encompassing remains dating from at least the Late Neolithic to the early nineteenth century. Three main areas were investigated. Area 1 (dryland) contained pits and post-holes associated with Grooved Ware pottery, extensive lithic scatters, a putative pit alignment, burnt spreads, a ring-ditch, a timber circle, an east–west extended supine adult burial, iron-smithing debris and features, a keyhole-shaped cereal-drying kiln, medieval ditches, and post-medieval ditches and furrows. Area 2 contained an east–west orientated brushwood trackway with a roundwood substructure of probable Iron Age date, as well as an isolated hearth on a discreet bed of clay. Multiple artefacts, fragments of human bone, and animal bones (articulated, semi-articulated and disarticulated) were deposited within the trackway; a deposit of Grooved Ware was found adjacent to the trackway. Area 3 contained archaeological wood associated with Grooved Ware, stone surfaces, roundwood and brushwood platforms, brushwood trackways, and roundwood structures. Multiple artefacts, fragments of human bone, and animal bones (articulated, semi-articulated and disarticulated) were deposited within the structures. An anthropomorphic notched oak figure (E5221:30) was found immediately to the west of the archaeological structures in Area 3.
References
Hardy, C. 2021. N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road Project Stage (i)a, (i)b, (i)c Test Excavation, Stage (i)m Testing in Felled Forestry and Stage (i)f Townland Boundary Survey. Ministerial Direction No.: A077, Registration No.: E5070. Unpublished AMS report for RCC and TII.
Roughan & O’Donovan-AECOM. 2017. N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road Project Environmental Impact Assessment Report. TII and Roscommon National Road Design Office. Available @ https://www.roscommoncoco.ie/en/services/roads/publications-and-information/n5-ballaghaderreen-to-scramoge-road-project/environmental-impact-assessment-report/volume-2b-eiar-chapter-11-19/00-eiar.pdf [Accessed 29 January 2022].
Archaeological Management Solutions, Fahy's Road, Kilrush, Co. Clare
