What is recorded here

Kilmainham 1A holds two Neolithic structures, a Bronze Age hut-site and an early medieval kiln within seven thousand square metres beside the M3. Structure 1 measured 4.6 by 2.2 metres, its corner postholes framing a shallow hearth whose red base still carries the memory of fire. People may have cooked there in seasons when the fold sheltered them from wind, leaving behind only flint flakes and bowl sherds before the land closed over their hands.

Situated in a slight fold in a gently undulating landscape, with rock outcrop close to the surface at the S edge of the hollow. Archaeological testing (04E0917) by J. Roynane (2005) at Testing Area 10 of Contract 4 of the M3 motorway identified (excavations.ie 2004:1270) archaeological material that was fully excavated (E003141) in November and December 2006 by E. Lyne (2011) as Kilmainham 1A when an L-shaped area of 7000 square metres was opened. The excavated area was just SW of the multi-period complex of Kilmainham 1C. Two Neolithic structures, a Bronze Age hut-site, a prehistoric boundary and a flat cemetery, were recorded as well as an early medieval cereal-drying kiln and a long ditch that extended into Kilmainham 1C (excavations.ie 2007:1334). The two Neolithic structures are situated in a fairly small area (dims c. 35m N-S; c. 12m E-W). Structure 1 (dims 4.6m NE-SW; 2.2m NW-SE) is defined by four corner postholes, with a fifth on the line of the SE side. There is a hearth (dims 1.91m NW-SE; 1.57m NE-SW; D 0.23m) with a red/orange silty oxidized base and fills of sandy silt in the interior. It may have functioned purely as a cooking area, and was probably open on the NW side. The only artefacts recovered were some flint pressure flakes, and five sherds of a carinated bowl from the S posthole. (Lyne 2011, 7-8) See the attached plans adapted from Lyne (2011, figs 7, 8) ME017-085_1 Site plan; ME0117-085002- Structure; Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 16 March 2022

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