What is recorded here

Kilmainham held three Early Bronze Age hut-sites beside a cairn, pit-burials and burnt mound, meaning people kept returning to that narrow spur rather than fleeing it. Structure 2 preserved twenty postholes and part of a foundation trench on a northeast-facing slope, perhaps forming a small shelter with an eastern porch. Nearby hearths yielded Beaker pottery and charred barley, while charcoal dated the occupation between 2122 and 1831 cal. BC. The absence of a clear entrance or internal hearth leaves the building’s exact use uncertain, but the repeated fires and buried pits suggest a lived-in place where food, ceremony and memory crossed.

Three hut-sites, a stone platform or cairn, some pit-burials and burnt mound 2 can be dated to the Early Bronze Age (2500-1700 BC). Structure 2 is situated on the NE-facing slope of the spur. This is a subcircular feature (dims c. 2.7m N-S; c. 2.3m E-W) consisting of 20 postholes and portion of a foundation trench E-S. There is no internal hearth or identified entrance, but if two postholes at the extreme E are interpreted as a porch the foundation trench would align better with the E edge of a smaller structure (diam. c. 1.5m). No contemporary diagnostic artefacts were found. A sherd of Early Neolithic pottery from one of the postholes is considered to be residual and illustrative of the disturbed nature of the deposits at this point. However, a sample of ash charcoal from one of the postholes returned a C14 date of 1953-1774 cal. BC (UBA 12898), indicating an Early Bronze Age date. (Walsh 2011, vol. 1, 68-70) A group of four small pits (dims 0.55m; D 0.16 to 0.6-0.65m; D 0.12m) and three hearths (dims 0.9m x 0.36m; D 0.33m: 1.9m x 1.22m; D 0.14m) in a concentrated area (dims c. 8m x c. 7m) on the other side of the ridge c. 58m to the SW of Structure 2 are probably contemporary with it as six sherds of Beaker pottery were recovered from them and a charred grain of barley from one of the hearths provided a C14 date of 2122-1831 cal. BC (UBA 12918). (Walsh 2011, vol. 1, 70-1) True location: ITM (675660, 774107) See the attached plans adapted from Walsh 2011 (vol. 2, figs 6, 7, 17) ME017-087_1 Site plan; ME017-087_2 Contour plan; ME017-087_6 Location: ME017-087008- plan: Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 21 March 2022

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