Ring-ditch 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. The enclosure (int. diam. 31.5m N-S; 30m E-W) is defined by a narrow fosse which was originally dug in eight segments that were later connected by extending the sections. This has resulted in nine bulbous ditch terminals in the course of the ditch, either intact or wholly or partially removed, as well as the terminals around the entrance gap (Wth 1.9m) at N where the W terminal oversails the E. The ditch sections varied greatly in character, being either V-shaped or U-shaped and cut to varying widths and depths (Wth of top 0.9-1.25m; D 0.3-0.65m). A straight section at SE and an incurving portion at SW distort its circularity as does an in-turning at NW where two section of ditch do not quite join up. The fills extended through the sections, but in the S third where the ditch was cut into a yellow clay subsoil it was filled almost exclusively with this material. Elsewhere the fosse was cut through gravel and compacted clay, and was filled with a succession of silts and gravelly clay slumped from the sides. Animal bone was recovered exclusively from the layer above the primary silting throughout the fosse, and a pig humerus from this produced a C14 date of 970-820 cal. BC) while a bone sample from another part of the fosse provided a determination of 920-800 cal. BC placing the enclosure firmly in the Late Bronze Age. None of the internal features can be related through stratigraphy to the enclosure ditch, and its function cannot be determined, although it is likely to be settlement rather than funereal as no human bone was recovered from the fosse. (Elder 2009, 3-5) See the attached plan from Elder (2009, fig. 7) 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