Pit in Gunnocks

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 20 two small pits (diam. 0.32-0.42m; D 0.12m) were excavated (16E0227) by D. Bayley (excavatioins.ie 2016:547). One pit (diam. 0.48-0.5m; D 0.06m) had a fill of grey silty clay with stones that may have been cut by the other pit (dims 0.4m x 0.6m; D 0.07m) which had a similar fill, although the second had a low level of hazel and ash charcoal. A single charred hazelnut provided a C14 date of 2200-1985 cal. BC (FTMC-HR36-18), placing it in the Early Bronze Age. (Duffy et. al. 2021, 13) 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 Multiple licences, Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy