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 14, excavation (16E0175) by D. Bayle recorded (excavations.ie 2016:538) a group of three pits in a small area (dims c. 5m x c. 3m). The pits (diam. 0.6-0.76m; D 0.07m) are filled with grey to black silty clays with burnt stone and charcoal inclusions, and there was some undiagnostic burnt bone and a single unburnt animal bone. Hazelnut shells were present in two of the pits, samples of which provided C14 dates of 1889-1700 cal. BC (FTMC-HR36-13) and 1885-1691 cal. BC (FTMC-HR36-14), placing them in the Early to Middle Bronze Age. (Duffy et. al. 2021, 18-19) 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 Multiple licences, Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy