Excavation - miscellaneous

The National Monuments Service's description

This is one of 10 pits, all of which contained either charcoal or traces of burning, which were excavated in 2000 by Frank Coyne, under licence no. 00E0769 which was summarised as follows; 'Monitoring of the N22 Bealagrellagh to Gortatlea N22 realignment uncovered several pits, a portion of a fulacht fiadh and a ring-barrow, of which only the northern half extended into the area under construction.
Ten pits were excavated, all of which contained either charcoal or traces of burning, while one pit produced several sherds of Beaker pottery and a portion of a stone axehead. No surface indication of the ring-barrow was noted before topsoil-stripping. The southern half of this site extends under the existing Tralee–Farranfore road. The exposed portion of the site measures 25m east–west, consisting of a circular ditch 1m wide and 0.35m deep. A small quantity of cremated bone was recovered from a shallow depression in the centre of the barrow, but no other artefact was present.
The southernmost portion of a fulacht fiadh extended onto the area of construction and suffered accidental damage from machinery. This necessitated the excavation of the exposed portion of this burnt mound. The area under investigation measured 2m north–south by 9m. This consisted of heat-shattered red sandstones with occasional inclusions of charcoal, to a maximum depth of 1.5m. Removal of this deposit exposed the underlying naturally occurring boulder clay. No features were found cut into this clay, and it appears that the trough area is in the main body of the mound to the north, off the line of the roadway' (Coyne 2002, 146; www.excavations.ie 2000:0435).

The record for this monument has been assessed in relation to its proposed inclusion in the revised statutory Record of Monuments and Places (RMP). The evidence indicates that the monument has been totally removed (both above- and below-ground archaeology). In consequence, it will not be included in the revised RMP.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 24 June 2022

References

Coyne, F. 2002 Gortatlea and Flemby, prehistoric burial and ritual. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 2000: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 146.