Excavation - miscellaneous

The National Monuments Service's description

On flat rushy pasture 760m E of the River Maigue and the townland boundary with Ballynabanoge. One of a group of five prehistoric sites (LI031-211/212/214/215----) excavated within 500m on the Bord Gáis Éireann's Pipeline to the West in 2002 in Inchinclare and Rosstemple townlands (Grogan, et. al. 2007). No trace of the monument was present on historic maps or aerial photographs prior to the discovery of the site during pipeline construction.
Five pits (two of which were possibly cremation burials), a post-hole and a short linear feature were excavated in a 36m stretch of the pipeline corridor (02E0511, Taylor 2004). The site was disturbed and truncated. The pit survived to a depth of just 0.02m. The smaller possible cremation burial survived to 0.04m deep. The larger cremation pit (ext. dims. 0.59m x 0.46m; D. 0.16m) had a steep concave profile and an irregular oval plan. Charcoal, small amounts of burnt bone and a fragment of animal bone were recovered from the pits.
A short gully (L. 2.04m; Wth. 0.56m and D. 0.17m) was located adjacent and parallel with an existing field boundary, with a concave profile. The fill produced a small amount of burnt bone (possibly human) and six small pieces of chert. A small but well-defined pit and a deep post-hole with packing stones lay 15m E of the main focus of activity. A shallow pit, 15m further E, showed evidence of burning having taken place on the ground surface.

Compiled by: Edmond O’Donovan

Date of upload: 22 October 2020

References

Grogan, E., O'Donnell, L. and Johnston, P. 2007 The Bronze Age landscapes of the pipeline to the West. Bray. Wordwell.

Taylor, K. 2004 Rosstemple (BGE 3/72/5). In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2002: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 345, No. 1253. Bray. Wordwell.