Excavation - miscellaneous

The National Monuments Service's description

On flat pasture 160m NNE of Castle Ievers and 415m SW of the townland boundary with Drombeg. One of a group of four prehistoric sites (LI031-217/218/219/220----) excavated within 600m on the Bord Gáis Éireann's Pipeline to the West in 2002 in Tullerboy townland (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.
A single, isolated oval post-hole or small pit was excavated (ext. dims. 0.34m; 0.26m; D. 0.18m) with steep sides and a concave base. The fill in the feature consisted of a dark brown, silty clay with occasional stones and a moderate amount of charcoal. There was evidence of in situ burning, with the natural geological deposits in the sides of the feature being oxidised. Possible packing stones were also observed in the edges of the fill. No artefacts were recovered, and the feature remains undated. Interpretation is problematic. The form of the cut and the presence of packing stones appeared to indicate a post-hole; however, no other features were observed in the vicinity to form a structure (such as a house of or a fence etc.). The fill was not typical of other prehistoric features in the area; the absence of associated medieval or post-medieval finds suggests an early date (Taylor 2004, 348).

Compiled by: Edmond O’Donovan

Date of upload: 27 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 Tullerboy (BGE 3/73/9); Posthole. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 2002: Summary Accounts of Archaeological Excavations in Ireland, 348, No. 1265. Wordwell, Bray.