Excavation

In 2002, archaeological monitoring (Licence No. 02E0474) of topsoil- stripping along the proposed route of the N11 Newtownmountkennedy-Ballynabarny Road Scheme uncovered 'Site 6'. It comprised a large, shallow, oval pit, measuring 1.8m by 1.16m by 0.15m deep. The pit was bowl shaped in section and was filled primarily with a mottled, orange/grey, soft, sandy silt, containing a moderate amount of charcoal flecking, in its western half and a friable, grey, silty clay in its eastern half. A charcoal lens was noted, extending along the base of both of these fills, which overlay an orange burnt clay. In the western half of the pit, along its western edge, the remains of what appeared to be a small post-hole were uncovered beneath a layer of redeposited subsoil. This post-hole was 0.25m in diameter and 0.15m deep, containing dark brown/black, charcoal-rich, silty clay. The charcoal-rich nature of these fills and the burnt soil along the base of the pit suggest that this may be the remains of a hearth pit, with the remnants of a possible pot stand in the form of a post-hole in the western edge of the pit (Bennett 2004, 531). Date of upload: 30 October 2012