Burnt spread in Portan (dunboyne By.)

Archaeological monitoring (15E0577) by P. Duffy, D. Bayle and J. Whitaker of topsoil stripping over a large area (c. 92 ha.) conducted intermittently between Dec. 2015 and October 2018 uncovered 37 locations of potential archaeological importance (excavations.ie 2016:051). Each of these was further investigated by the same archaeologists under different licences. At Site 8, which was excavated (16E0117) by D. Bayley (excavations.ie 2016:532), an isolated spread (dims 0.6m x 0.4m; T 0.03m) of a silty clay with inclusions of charcoal and a small amount of undiagnostic burnt bone was recorded. A flint scraper and a piece of debitage was found on its surface. The charcoal was dominated by ash with low levels of alder and oak, and a sample of alder charcoal provided a C14 date of 3521-3371 cal. BC (FTMC-HR36-3) placing it in the Neolithic. (Duffy et. al. 2021, 4) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 26 April, 2023 Duffy, P., Fairhead, S. & F. Fleeshouven 2021 Final Excavation Report for Sites 3-37, Clonee, Portan, Gunnocks, Co. Meath. Multiple licences, Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy