The proposed construction of the €260 million motorway between Limerick and Nenagh will impact on a neolithic site, claimed to be a location for the production of stone axes.
No details for the preservation of the site at Tullaheady, two miles outside Nenagh, have yet been agreed by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, an archaeologist, Ms Margaret Gowen, told an oral hearing by An Bord Pleanála in Limerick yesterday.
Her company, Margaret Gowen & Co, researched and wrote the archaeological report section of the Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed 37km motorway, due to open in 2009.
She said it was proposed to adopt a design approach which will achieve the preservation in situ by burying the site, but she stressed that details on this had yet to be finalised.
Ms Nancy Murphy, a local historian, said the site was discovered in 1998 during excavation works for the construction of the Nenagh by-pass. She said numerous stone axes in mint condition, dating from the neolithic period, were found, leading to speculation that it was the location of an ancient axe-making "factory".
An archaeologist, Mr Brian Hodkinson, whose house at Annaholty is due for demolition if the motorway goes ahead, said he had identified sites of five ancient castles that were on or in the vicinity of the proposed motorway route which were not mentioned in Ms Gowen's report. He said a medieval roadway linking Nenagh and Killaloe was being crossed twice by the new route.
Ms Gowen said that in the writing of the archaeological report her company had referred to the official records to establish the location of sites along the proposed motorway route.