Excavation — miscellaneous in Newtown (clanwilliam By., Kilmurry Ed)

On gently undulating former flat pasture in advance of the construction of the Kylemore Housing estate. Other contemporary prehistoric archaeological sites have been discovered on the Limerick Southern Ring Road that forms the SE boundary of the site (Bermingham et al. 2013), such as a cremation pit (LI006-092005-) 600m to NE and a fulacht fia (LI005-105----) 300m to SW. The archaeological excavations in Newtown were carried out by Linda Lynch (2008) under licence No. 07E0934 across 5 areas (overall dims. 75m E-W X 100m N-S). The results of the excavations recorded numerous features which included ‘a large spread of pits, post-holes, stake-holes and cremation burials. These were excavated at the end of 2007 (www.excavations.ie 2007 Site No. 1099; Lynch 2010, 290). The pits and post-/stake-holes were particularly concentrated in one area, with outliers of human cremation burials/spreads and a hearth with associated stake-holes. The latter appears to represent the repeated use of a spit over the fire. Another possible hearth, with associated stake -holes, was located near the centre of the main concentration of pits and post-holes. Only one structure was identified within these features. This was a five -post structure, with four post-holes forming a square plan with a fifth post-hole centrally placed. The plan of the structure was very regular, with the corner post-holes located between 2.4m and 2.5m from each other. A number of the pits had stake-holes in the bases or immediately adjacent to them, suggesting the possible use of marker-posts. Indeed, no definite structure could be determined from the large post-pits that were excavated, which suggests that these may also have functioned as marker-posts. No finds were recovered from any of the features. Flecks of cremated bone were found in a number of pits’ (www.excavations.ie 2008 Site No. 765; Lynch 2011, 226). A single ‘pit contained a relatively significant amount of immediately identifiable human cremated bone. A number of features were found to truncate others. This, in conjunction with the repeated use of spits over fires, indicates that the site had a certain longevity. However, as yet it is not possible to determine what features are contemporary and whether the site was in use over one long phase or intermittently over a much longer period. Indeed the function(s) of the site may have changed also over time’. Further analysis of the cremated human bone and charcoal are anticipated. Compiled by: Edmond O'Donovan Date of upload: 21 July 2020