Excavation — miscellaneous in Portan (dunboyne By.)

Located on a fairly level landscape. A gradiometer survey (17R0229) by Target Archaeological Geophysics of an extensive development area of c. 75 ha in the townlands of Loughsallagh, Portan, and Gunnocks, identified numerous anomalies of potential archaeological interest. Targeted archaeological testing (18E0013) by T. Coughlan in 2018 and M. Piera (19E0211) in 2019 was able to demonstrate that many of these were of fairly modern agricultural origin. However, sixteen locations were set aside for further investigation, which was undertaken by J. Whittaker under the licence (18E0013) between the beginning of April and the end of July 2019, and all but four of these proved to be of archaeological interest. Five pits (dims 0.43m x 0.33m; D 0.09m to 2.7m x 1.83m; max. 0.39m) in a confined area (dims 8m x 6m) were filled with sand or sandy clays that had charcoal flecks and inclusions of burnt stone. There were also two small post-holes. With no evidence of a trough or a mound, and no artefacts, the pits could be interpreted as pot-boilers. (Whitaker 2020, 26-7, Site 8) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 8 November 2021