Burnt mound in Derver

Situated on the floor of the valley of the River Blackwater, with a WNW-ESE section of the stream c. 50m to the S. Archaeological testing (04E1060) by D. Bayley (2005) at Testing Area 9 of Contract 5 of the M3 motorway identified archaeological features in a limited area (dims c. 25m x c. 15m) that were completely excavated (E003183) by D. Gallagher in January 2007 (excavations.ie 2007:1298) as Derver 5. Three pits (dims 1.1m x 0.4m; D 0.3m to 1m x 0.9m; D 0.18m), a linear feature (dims 4m x 1.1m; D 0.15-0.3m) and a spread (dims 3.46m x 3.3m; T 0.1m) of mottled brown-grey clayey silt with some charcoal inclusions were excavated. The pits were filled with clay that had some heat-affected stone and charcoal. Samples of charred hazel from a pit produced a C14 date of 43 cal. BC – 126 cal. AD (Beta 247195), while a sample of hazel charcoal from the upper fill of the linear feature yielded a date of 1734-1515 cal. BC (Beta 247194). No trough or mound was identified and no artefacts were recovered but the presence of a burnt mound of two different periods of use is indicated. (Gallagher and Kelleher 2008) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 4 March 2022

Burnt mound in Derver is a Neolithic ritual or industrial site, dating to the third millennium BCE. Its significance lies in providing evidence of early human activity and land use in the River Blackwater valley.