Burnt pit in Knockmoylan

Situated c. 10m S of an enclosure (KK035-048001-) and excavated in 2006 in advance of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford road improvement scheme (Excavation licence no. E2513). A subcircular pit (L 1.3m; Wth 0.7m; D 0.25m) with steep sloping sides and a concave base. The base contained compact burnt clay. The upper fill contained dark brown sandy silt containing charcoal and seeds as well as consolidated furnace waste and slag. A charred barley grain yielded a radiocarbon date of cal AD 671-799 (UBA-14003). Specialist work on the slag suggested that it represented smelting activity that used charcoal as fuel. (Channing 2009, 268, no. 1047; Channing and O’Neill 2010) Compiled by: Mary Tunney Date of upload: 16 October 2013