What is recorded here

In 2002, road works in Tully East revealed a long habitation site where people built small structures, lit fires and heated stones for cooking. The remains include post holes, a possible hearth, flint flakes, broken pottery and pits full of charcoal and fire-cracked quartz. For a moment the bypass route became a kitchen, a workshop and a place of ordinary life, now visible only through what it left behind.

Identified in 2002 during monitoring of topsoil-stripping along the route of the Kildare Bypass, and subsequently archaeologically excavated (Ó Maoldúin 2002. Excavation Licence No. 02E0541). A substantial number of pits and post- and stake-holes extended over a distance of c. 70m along the route of the bypass, and while most were seemingly random features, with no obvious interrelation, two foci of activity were identified. A concentration of stake- and post-holes was observed on the E side of the site: one of the post-holes contained a large, well-preserved sherd of a prehistoric vessel with incised decoration. Nearby was a possible hearth, comprising two inter-connected, shallow, bowl-shaped features containing some charcoal and ashy material and evidence of in situ burning around the edges. Three flint flakes were also found here. A small isolated pit lay 30m to the W, and contained five sherds of poorly preserved pottery, similar in type to that recovered to the E. To the W and S, four pits constituted another focus of activity. All contained charcoal-rich soil and fire-cracked quartz stone, indicative of possible fulacht fiadh material. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 09 January 2013

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