Excavation

A rescue excavation was conducted at Ballynabarny between 5 December 2001 and 20 February 2002 on the route of the N11 Newtownmountkennedy– Ballynabarny Road Scheme. Areas 1 and 2 were at an interchange of the proposed dual carriageway, and Area 3 was c. 1km to the south. Post-excavation research and analysis are in progress, and the following conclusions are preliminary. Area 3 Area 3 was in a field known locally as the ‘Well Field’ and comprised two ditches and four pits. The ditches, at opposite ends of the field, were oriented north–south. They were c. 2m wide and 0.6m deep and are the remains of two field boundaries that are shown on the 1839 edition OS map but were removed before the second edition in 1904. The four pits were widely dispersed throughout the field. Three of them were similar in morphology, yielding evidence of in situ burning, and two appeared to have been cut into the natural bedrock. This suggests that they may be associated or coeval, but this will be determined only when radiocarbon dates have been obtained. The fourth pit was roughly circular, measuring 1.5m by 1.36m. The sides descended gradually to an uneven concave base at a depth of 0.3m. Contained in the two fills of the pit were 83 pieces of flint (most of which were struck) and 28 sherds of probable Bronze Age pottery (Bennett 2004, 526-7) Date of upload: 23 October 2012