What is recorded here

Melted hazel and alder charcoal still line the pit bottom, marking a temporary fire or discarded kitchen waste from the early medieval period. The narrow hole cuts through sandy clay near Portan, small enough to fit inside a modern doorway yet deep enough to preserve carbon from woods that no longer stand. A person stood beside it, looked down, and chose what to keep or bury. That choice survived the loss of every name attached to it.

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 23 excavation (16E0337) by D. Bayley recorded (excavations. ie 2016:550) an isolated pit (dims 1.48m c 1.98m; D 0.15m) with two layers of sandy clays. Alder and hazel charcoal was confined to the lower layer and a sample of hazel yielded a C14 date of 706-893 cal. AD (FTMC-HR36-21), placing it in the early medieval period. (Duffy et. al. 2021, 28-9) 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 Multiple licences, Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy

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