County: Mayo Site name: Deerpark East 4
Sites and Monuments Record No.: NA Licence number: E005328
Author: Declan Moore
Site type: Fulacht fiadh
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 499309m, N 785526m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.809509, -9.528851
An Bord Pleanála gave approval to Mayo County Council for the construction of the N5 Westport to Turlough national road scheme. Directions were issued to Mayo County Council by the Minister for Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht in respect of the archaeological requirements of the scheme (Ministerial Directions Number: A069). Following the completion of the Environment Impact Assessment (2013) the proposed route was subject to a geophysical survey that informed an intensive testing programme followed by archaeological excavations of exposed material (2015-2016). Burnt mounds, or fulachtaí fiadh, are a prominent site type in the area, more than 40 examples of which were identified and investigated during the project.
One of the fulachtaí fiadh identified during testing at the western end of the project area is in Deerpark East, north of Westport. This site, designated as Deerpark East 4, was the subject of an excavation in 2016, but not all the area of the site was defined or excavated as it was thought that it may have continued beneath the existing alignment of the N59 Newport Road at the western extent of the excavated area.
The overall archaeological strategy document for the current works notes the following requirements at this location:
Monitoring of excavation works to facilitate a new pavement, removal, and banking back of part of the existing N59 Newport Road was carried out by the author at this location in early February 2023. As a result, a small area (roughly 4m x 1.2m) of burnt material - small amounts of fire-reddened stone and blackened sandy clay - was exposed. It was not possible to preserve the entire feature in situ and after consultation with the client's representative, the Project Archaeologist and the NMS, it was agreed that limited excavation of this material would be carried out.
The first stage of the works involved supervision of the removal of the asphalt and underlying deposits that made up the existing road. This allowed for the area to be cleaned to assess the presence and condition of archaeological deposits or features.
After cleaning, the burnt spread material exposed was systematically excavated by hand using the single context recording system. The previously unexcavated remains of the burnt mound/fulacht fiadh (Deerpark East 4) were observed between ITM 499314/785525 and 499311/785528 and appeared to continue under the existing N59 to the west and below the level of excavations required to the south. The burnt area had been truncated by a water mains to the east at some time in the past. The area of burning measured 4m north-south x 1.2m.
An amorphous reddish brown compact sandy silty clay was observed deepening towards the south beneath the level required for construction of the footpath. The author removed approximately 200mm to 300mm of this material by hand. A small pit was located centrally which measured roughly 300mm in maximum depth with a width of 600mm north to south. After removal of the burnt material the remaining material was covered with a layer of geotextile and sand and preserved in situ prior to laying of the pathway.
No diagnostic or datable material was recovered during the work.
3 Gort na Rí, Athenry, Co. Galway
