Ring-ditch

The National Monuments Service's description

In an open area of gently undulating terrain. Excavated in 2007 in advance of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford road improvement scheme (Licence no. E3541). An almost perfectly circular U-shaped ditch (Wth up to 2.8m; D up to 0.75m; ext. diam. 11.8m; int. diam. 7.8m) with a kink at SE, filled with a stony basal layer, a charcoal-rich middle layer and an upper layer of silting. Three deposits of cremated animal bone and some animal teeth were found in the charcoal-rich layer. A possible glass bead was also found. Three small post-holes were identified 5m to the NW. A sample of charred hazelnut shell returned an Iron Age radiocarbon date of cal AD 28-215 (UBA-15556). A portion of the ring-ditch remains outside the limits of the excavation. (Jennings 2010, 239, no. 900; Jennings and Coughlan 2012)

Compiled by: Mary Tunney

Date of upload: 18 November 2013

References

Jennings, R. 2010 AR080B, Danesfort. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2007: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 239, no. 900. Bray. Wordwell.

Jennings, R. and Coughlan, T. 2012 N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford scheme, Phase 4 – Knocktopher to Powerstown. Final report. E3541. Danesfort. Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.