What is recorded here

Kilmainham 1A holds a Middle Bronze Age boundary because a winding gully cut through high ground near a circular hut-site. The gully meandered eighty metres or more, kept fifteen to twenty metres from the dwelling, and contained cherry charcoal dated to 1497-1415 cal. BC. A pit and hearth sat west of its northern end, while the gully itself was re-cut once towards its southern reach.

Situated in a slight fold in a gently undulating landscape, with rock outcrop close to the surface at the S edge of the hollow. Archaeological testing (04E0917) by J. Roynane (2005) at Testing Area 10 of Contract 4 of the M3 motorway identified (excavations.ie 2004:1270) archaeological material that was fully excavated (E003141) in November and December 2006 by E. Lyne (2011) as Kilmainham 1A when an L-shaped area of 7000 square metres was opened. The excavated area was just SW of the multi-period complex of Kilmainham 1C. Two Neolithic structures, a Bronze Age hut-site, a prehistoric boundary and a flat cemetery, were recorded as well as an early medieval cereal-drying kiln and a long ditch that extended into Kilmainham 1C (excavations.ie 2007:1334). A winding gully (Wth 0.63m; D 0.33m; L 80m plus) meandered NW-SE along the top of the slight rise overlooking the circular hut-site, and while it may have retained a palisade it never came closer than c. 15-20m to the hut-site. It followed the high ground and was re-cut once towards its S end. It had two fills of grey or brown sandy silt, and a sample of cherry charcoal from the fill returned a radiocarbon determination of 1497-1415 cal. BC (UBA 12097), placing it firmly in the Middle Bronze Age and contemporary with the hut-site. A pit (dims 1.9m x 1.1m; D 0.3m) and a hearth (dims 1.22m x 0.5m; D 0.14m) were placed immediately W of the gully towards its N end and c. 5m from each other. No artefacts were recovered from these features, but the pit was slightly cut by the gully. (Lyne 2011, 27-8, 32-4) See the attached plans adapted from Lyne (2011, figs 7, 11) ME017-085_1 Site plan; ME01`7-085005- Boundary; Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 16 March 2022

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