EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Limerick
Two burials were uncovered to the east of the souterrain. These were aligned with heads to
the south-south-west. Both skeletons had an iron knife blade placed beside the skull, and one
had an iron buckle. The grave goods and alignment could suggest a pre-Christian or
transitional date.
The final phase of habitation was associated with a possible stone enclosure or hut close to
the bank in the north-western part of the site. This structure appears to have been built
much later than the main habitation phase as it was uncovered just below the present ground
level.
Other finds from the site included a bronze bucket-handle, a number of bronze and iron
objects, three bones ‘spearpoints’, a crucible, and six whetstones. The animal bone
assemblage was very small and consisted mainly of cattle, pig, sheep and horse.
The radiocarbon dates from the sites contain very broad error margins and only narrow the
main habitation phase down to the latter half of the first millennium A.D.
Fig. 195: Plan of excavated areas at Raheennamadra, Co. Limerick (after Stenberger 1966-7,
plate II).
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