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AR01055_EMAP_Gazetteer_of_Sites_4-2_10.pdf - The Heritage ...

AR01055_EMAP_Gazetteer_of_Sites_4-2_10.pdf - The Heritage ...

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Kilkenny<br />

Loughboy, Co. Kilkenny<br />

Early Medieval Settlement-Cemetery.<br />

Grid Ref: S51445382 (25144/15382)<br />

SMR No: KK019-040; KK019-041<br />

Excavation Licence: 98E0219<br />

Excavation Duration/Year: November 1998 – 1999.<br />

Site Directors: E. Cotter (Freelance)<br />

Excavations were undertaken on the site <strong>of</strong> two circular enclosures recorded in the early<br />

editions <strong>of</strong> the Ordnance Survey maps, but no longer visible on the ground. <strong>The</strong> sites were<br />

located on the top <strong>of</strong> two small knolls. Excavation revealed little evidence for the enclosure<br />

KK019-041, and work was focused on KK019-040, although it also turned out to have been<br />

substantially destroyed by agricultural improvements in the 1930s.<br />

Top-soil stripping here uncovered a sub-rectangular enclosure (41m by 35m), which was later<br />

expanded by the addition <strong>of</strong> a secondary ditch, thus enclosing an oval-shaped area <strong>of</strong> 52m by<br />

39m (Fig. 194). Two charcoal spreads were uncovered in the interior <strong>of</strong> the site, from which<br />

fragments <strong>of</strong> iron slag and a fragment <strong>of</strong> a bone comb were found. An ironworking hearth<br />

was also located within the interior, from which 35 pieces <strong>of</strong> iron slag was recovered.<br />

A cemetery <strong>of</strong> at least 20 individuals was discovered in the south-east <strong>of</strong> the interior. <strong>The</strong><br />

animal bones recovered from the ditch were dominated by cattle (370 fragments). Sheep (64<br />

fragments) and pig (46 fragments) were also present, as was dog (4 fragments) and red deer<br />

(1 fragment).<br />

Fig. 194: Plan <strong>of</strong> enclosure KK019-040 at Loughboy, Co. Kilkenny (after Cotter 1999).<br />

401

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