Burnt mound in Kilmessan

Situated in a gently undulating landscape on the W bank of a SSE-NNW section of the canalised Skane River, with the stream c. 20m to the E. Archaeological testing (04E1499) by R. Tobin on the line of a sewer pipe identified an area of broken and burnt stones (excavations.ie 2004:1236), which was subsequently excavated (05E0689) within the wayleave by the S. Conran as Kilmessan 2 (excavations.ie 2005:1206). Three layers of burnt mound material are interleaved with deposits of sands, silts and organic sediment indicating two or possibly three discrete phases of activity. A sample of alder charcoal from the earliest mound (dims 3.4m x 2m; T 0.25m) produced a C14 date of 2030-1880 cal. BC. This mound was sealed beneath a layer of brown sediment (max. D 0.43m) with decayed wood fragments, from which a large quantity of red deer bones were recovered. This layer also produced one piece of split oak that was at least 70 years old before felling. The organic layer was overlain by deposits of silts and sands interleaved with a second deposit of broken and burnt stone (diam. 2.5m; max. T 0.17m). The third mound of broken and burnt stone (dims c. 8m N-S; 4m plus E-W; max. T 0.43m) extends outside the excavation area to the E. A sample of alder from this yielded a C14 date of 2010-1770 cal. BC. No evidence of a trough, or any features cut into the gravel subsoil were recorded but it is very likely that they survive outside the excavated area to the E. No artefacts were recovered. (Conran 2010) Compiled by: Michael Moore