What is recorded here

Blanchvillespark held a Neolithic structure on the west slopes of a knoll, dated to 3660-3380 cal BC through charred hazelnut. People likely built there because the surrounding low land flooded, forcing life upward onto stable ground. They heated stones, burnt bone, and cut flint within arm’s reach of the hearth, turning a narrow escape from water into a working home.

On the W slopes of a knoll surrounded by lower lying land prone to flooding. Excavated in 2007/8 in advance of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford road scheme (Licence no. E3894). Three pits and a post-hole form the outline of a possible structure. A fire pit/hearth with an upper deposit of ash, charcoal and burnt bone and a lower deposit of oxidised sandy silts and heated stones was located 1m to the E and three waste pits were adjacent. A small quantity of flint was recovered. This was technologically diagnostic and dated to the Neolithic period. A small sample of charred hazelnut returned a radiocarbon date of 3660-3380 cal BC (SUERC-30111), placing it in the middle Neolithic. (Jennings 2010, 235, no. 886; Jennings and Coughlan 2011) Compiled by: Mary Tunney Date of upload: 12 November 2013

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