Excavation - miscellaneous

The National Monuments Service's description

Identified during archaeological monitoring associated with the N20/N21 Limerick Bypass road scheme. Excavated under licence no. 98E0504 by Audrey Gahan (Gahan 1999) the results were summarised as following; ‘Five areas of archaeological significance were identified and excavated. In all cases the features survived only where they cut subsoil, the result of generations of farmland development. Area 1 consisted of an arc of small pits and post-holes filled with charcoal-rich soils. It is possible that the site, which was c. 7m in diameter, represents the heavily truncated remains of a circular hut, of probable prehistoric (Bronze Age?) date.
Area 2 was adjacent to an area previously excavated by Paul Logue, [LI013-166-----] where substantial evidence of Bronze Age activity was uncovered. Most likely this area was an extension of that activity. The site itself consisted of around 40 post-holes and pits. No discernible structure could be identified, and a saddle quern, within one of the pits, represented the only artefact from the site.
The remaining three areas investigated consisted of random scatters of pits and post-holes. Truncation in the area means that no discernible structures could be identified. No artefacts that could conclusively date the sites were recovered, but, as with the rest of the archaeology within this area, it appears most likely that they date to the prehistoric period’ (www.excavations.ie 1999, No. 383).

Compiled by: Martin Fitzpatrick

Date upload: 3 July 2020

References

Gahan, A. 1999 Excavations in Ballycummin Td., Sites A-E, Co. Limerick. Unpublished report (Licence No. 98E0504), submitted by Archaeological Development Services Ltd. on behalf of Limerick County Council to the National Monuments Service, Dúchas.