Excavation

Situated on a low W-E spur at the SE base of the Hill of Lloyd. Archaeological testing (04E0914) by S. Delaney (2005) at Testing Area 13 of Contract 4 of the M3 motorway identified numerous archaeological features on the route of the N52 Kells link-road (excavations.ie 2004:1306). The isolated features were spread over a fairly large area (dims c. 120m N-S; c. 50m E-W) and were completely excavated (E003155) in March 2007 by J. Kyle (2010) as Newrath Little 1, even though it is Town Parks (Kells Upper barony) townland. In Area A a hearth (dims 0.57m x 0.5m; D 0.05m) had a fill of a grey/brown sandy clay. A pit (dims 0.75m x 0.46m; D 0.17m) with a similar fill was c. 10m to the SW, and an irregular cut (dims 1.78m x 0.6m; D 0.17m) with a fill of brown silty sand was c. 6m to the E. In Area B, about 45m to the SW, was a collection of four pits (dims 0.34m-1.15m; D 0.04-0.23m) filled with silty sands, the largest of which produced three sherds of a Neolithic carinated bowl. A sample of a hazelnut shell from the lowest fill of this pit yielded a C14 date of 3788-3661 cal. BC (UBA 11100). One pit-burial (diam. 0.68m; D 0.2m) c. 13m to the E had a lower fill of loose brown silt with stones, from which some cremated bone and a fragment of a clay pipe stem were recovered, but the latter is undoubtedly intrusive. There were also traces of N-S furrows in this area. Two small pits (dims 0.7m x 0.55m; D 0.14m: 0.6m x 0.25m; D 0.07m) were c. 33m to the SW and c. 40m to the SE respectively of the group of pits but they produced no artefacts or ecological information. (Kyle 2010) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 11 March 2022