Excavation - miscellaneous

The National Monuments Service's description

'Located in the same development site as 99E0360, above, a pit, measuring 1.82m north-east/south-west by 0.92m and 0.82m deep, was truncated to the east by a modern drain. The pit contained two fills. The upper fill included 30% of burnt sandstone fragments. The base contained a high percentage of charcoal. Nine stake-holes cut the western end of the base of the pit. They were aligned north-west/south-east. They were on average 0.08m in diameter and 0.13m deep. Two stake-holes cut the eastern end of the base of the pit. They had a similar diameter but were on average 0.4m deep. Nine stake-holes were clustered to the immediate west of the pit. They were aligned north-west/south-east. It is likely that the stakes to the west and in the western end of the pit functioned as a windbreak, sheltering the pit from the prevailing westerly winds. The site is interpreted as a fulacht fiadh by the excavator, though only a pit containing heat shattered stones and charcoal seems to have been excavated. A radiocarbon date of 3370+/-70BP was calculated from a fill of this pit/trough. No finds were recovered.'

Description from ‘The Prehistoric Settlement of the Lee Valley, Tralee, Co. Kerry; A Landscape Perspective’ by Michael Connolly. PhD Thesis UCC 2008

Date of upload: 19 July 2012