EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Limerick
about thirty). The last three finds were tentatively interpreted as a possible foundation
deposit during the building’s construction.
A circular structure defined by another slot-trench, 5m in diameter, was situated to the north
of the figure-of-eight building and had been badly truncated by later drainage activity. No
dating evidence was recovered from this structure.
One large pit situated to the south-west of the figure-of-eight building revealed a flint blade
and a quantity of charcoal. A possible drain defined by a large linear cut ran across the upper
layer of the fill of this pit and appears to have originated in the slot-trench of the central
building. A number of pit features were recorded to the west of the figure-of-eight building
though none contained any finds or had any stratigraphic relationship with each other.
A cluster of undated pits and postholes were excavated to the east of main enclosure (A)
though none of the features had any stratigraphic relationships to each other. A cluster of
four other pits to the immediate east of the main enclosure (A) were filled with burnt stone
and were identified as pot-boilers or possible roasting pits. No finds were associated with any
of these features.
Newtown E was situated 25m to the west of the main enclosure and consisted of a curving
ditch feature, possibly forming part of a large sub-rectangular enclosure. No diagnostic finds
were recovered from the fill of the ditch, nor was any charcoal retrieved. The ditch cut an
area of burnt stones, tentatively identified as the remains of a fulachta fiadh. Two sherds of a
possible Vase Urn were recovered from a large pit, 15m west of the burnt deposit and were
possibly related to it. The eastern side of the curving ditch was in turn cut by a modern field
boundary.
Fig. 194: Plan of excavated features at Newtown A, Co. Limerick (after Coyne 2005, 53).
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