Fulacht fia in Knocks

Situated on a slight rise in a fairly level landscape, c. 140m S of an ENE-WSW portion of the canalised headwaters of one of the sources of the S-N River Skane. It was first identified as a low mound in a geophysical survey. Archaeological centre-line testing (04E0478) by T. O’Neill of Testing Area 16 of Contract 1, prior to the construction of the M3 motorway and its related works identified archaeological deposits (excavations.ie: 2004:1279) that were completely excavated (E003044) by S. Elder as Knocks 1 from November 2005 to January 2006 (excavations.ie 2005:AD11). This proves to be a spread of clay with a small amount of burnt stone covering several pits, post-holes and stake-holes that are within a circular enclosure defined by a narrow ditch, but the co-location of a fulacht fia and ring-ditch could be wholly fortuitous. Within the NW ambit of the ring-ditch fosse a circular clay-topped mound (diam. 12m) was covered by a spread (dims 14m E-W; 12m N-S; T 0.1m) of greyish brown, clayey silt with 20% broken and burnt stone inclusions which also formed the upper fill of the pits and troughs beneath. The full extent of this layer was truncated by ploughing, but largely beneath it were 15 pits (diam. 0.5m; D 0.25m to 2.87m x 1.9m; D 0.27m). Two flat-bottomed pits, one circular (diam. 1.38m; D 0.12m) and the other rectangular (dims 1.83m x 1.58m; D 0.43m) could have served as troughs, and a timber plank was stuck in the side of the rectangular one. Twenty four post-holes and numerous stake-holes were recorded, about half within the concentration of pits, but no pattern was discernible. Forty five flints, mostly debitage, were recovered, but the chronologically diagnostic pieces - scrapers, knives and a hollow-based arrowhead - could be placed in the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. A sample of charcoal from the basal fill of one of the pits recorded two possible dates of 2290-2110 or 2100-2040 cal. BC placing it in the Early Bronze Age. (Elder 2009, 5-6) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 9 December 2021 O’Neill, T. 2004 M3 Clonee - North of Kells, Contract 1 Clonee – Dunshaughlin. Final Report on Archaeological Assessment at Testing Area 16 Knocks, Readsland, Co. Meath. Licence: 04E0478. Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services