N4 Collooney to Castlebaldwin Road Scheme

Project overview

IAC provided expert archaeological services for the pre-construction resolution of archaeological remains identified along the 14.7km road corridor between Collooney and Castlebaldwin in Co. Sligo. This involved the excavation of 46 archaeological sites across a range of environments, including wetland settings.

Significant large-scale archaeological remains were identified which largely represent Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age funerary and settlement evidence. Post-excavation specialist analyses and reporting of excavation results are currently being undertaken by our team and it is envisaged that the data will be published in a monograph.

In addition, IAC were appointed to carry out palaeoenvironmental investigations at the site of Lough Meenaghan, Co. Sligo to complement the archaeological excavations; in conjunction with experts from the Palaeoenvironmental Research Unit at NUIG.

Through the combined application of pollen analysis and 14C-AMS dating, a record of environmental and vegetational change within the local catchment of the lake will be determined, with a focus on human activity and human-induced change.