Pit in Portan (dunboyne By.)

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 22, excavation (16E0270) by D. Bayley recorded (excavations.ie 2016:549) one small pit (dims 0.39m x 0.25m; D 0.12-0.16m) that was filled with a grey/black silty clay with charcoal beneath a thin layer of yellow clay that was re-deposited subsoil meant to seal the pit. There was a large quantity of cereal grains, probably emmer wheat with some barley and weed seeds as well as hazelnut shells. A fragment of a wheat grain provided a C14 date of 1377-1121 cal. BC FTMC-HR36-16), suggesting a mid to late Bronze Age date for the pit. (Duffy et. al. 2021, 22-3) 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 Multiple licences, Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy