What is recorded here

At the north end of a 300m ridge in County Meath, two Neolithic pits mark the highest point of the land. One held clay and bowl fragments dated to 3654-3527 cal. BC, while the other sat stone-lined and empty except for a flint flake. They emerged during motorway testing, joining a small burial ground and metalworking traces in less than 800 square metres. The ridge still stands above the modern road, keeping that brief human presence buried beneath its grass.

Situated at the N end of a NW-SE ridge (L . 300m) and at its highest point. Archaeological testing (04E0925) by J. Roynane (2005) at Testing Area 2 of Contract 4 of the M3 motorway identified archaeological material (excavations.ie 2004:1245) that was excavated (E003124) by A. Kelly (2011) as Grange 2 in late June/July 2006 (excavations.ie 2007:1321) when two Neolithic pits, a small burial ground, and evidence of metalworking were recorded in an area of just over 800 square metres. A subcircular pit (dims 0.65m x 0.47m; D 0.14m) had two fills of brown silty clays that produced six sherds from at least two Early Neolithic carinated bowls. A sample of carbonized hazelnut shell provided a C14 date of 3654-3527 cal. BC (UB 12074). A circular pit (diam. 0.7m; D 0.5m) 4m to the N is thought to be related as both were within the Late Iron Age cemetery. This pit was lined with stones and was filled with a brown silty clay but the only artefact recovered was a flint flake. (Kelly 2011, 5,6) See the attached site-plan from Kelly (2011, fig. 6) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 24 March 2022

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