Ring-ditch in Grange (navan Lower By.)

Situated towards the NW end of a slight NW-SE ridge. 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 (E003123) by A. Kelly (2011) as Grange 3 between June 2006 and January 2007 (excavations.ie 2007:1322) when just over 21,000 square metres were opened and numerous features were recorded. Amongst these were two Middle Bronze Age hut-sites and their associated metalled work-floors at the SE end of the area. Four pits with cremated bone dating to the Late Bronze Age were dispersed over a wide area, and elements of a Late Bronze Age field system were in the centre of the excavated area. Ten pits interpreted as furnace bottoms post-date the hut-sites and date to the Early Iron Age while four early medieval corn-drying kilns were also recorded in the same general area. At the NW edge of the excavated area was a Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age ring-ditch incorporating a four-post structure and an early medieval rectangular enclosure that is probably the annexe of a rath that would have lain outside the road-take to the NE. The ring-ditch is a circular area (int. diam. 9.5m; ext. diam. 16.5m) defined by a ditch (max. Wth 4m; max. D 1.3m). Four pits or postholes (diam. 0.32-0.56m; D 0.14-0.49m) were in the interior and these could have formed a rectangular structure (dims c. 4.3m E-W; c. 2.5m N-S) but no other internal features were present. The postholes contained no bone but a sherd of Middle Bronze Age pottery was recovered from one. There were two clear phases in the ditch, and its lower fills contained large amounts of animal bone dominated by red deer and deer antler. A sample of hazel charcoal from this level returned a C14 date of 1372-1131 cal. BC (UBA 12054) placing the ring-ditch’s construction in the Middle Bronze Age. A re-cut of the ditch was provided with a stone layer at its base that also had a plentiful supply of animal bones dominated by cattle. A sample from a horse tibia yielded a C14 date of 974-828 cal. BC (UBA 12053), indicating a date in the Late Bronze Age for this phase. A small amount of carbonised cereal grains were in the later fill of the ditch and a small quantity of iron slag was recovered from its top fill but this is thought to post-date the use of the ring-ditch that had no diagnostic artefacts. The S part of the ring-ditch is cut by an E-W ditch (Wth 3m; D 0.7m) which produced a large amount of animal bone, but the only artefact from it, a bone pin, suggests an early medieval date. This ditch is most likely associated with the early medieval rectangular enclosure just to the E. A cluster of four pits (dims 0.37m x 0.55m; D 0.25m to 1.75m x 1.4m; D 0.3m), three postholes and a stakehole on a slight rise c. 25m to the S of the ring-ditch may also have been associated with it, and although no diagnostic artefacts were recovered from them the features were truncated by furrows from which fragments of Middle Bronze Age ceramics were recovered. (Kelly 2010, 24-28, 41-2) See the attached plans adapted from Kelly (2010, figs 6, 10) ME024-035_1 Site plan; ME024-035001-_1 Monument plan; Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 24 March 2022