Enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on the summit of a N-S ridge. When first described in 1969 (SMR file) the earthwork presented as a large ring-barrow consisting of a circular grass-covered area (diam. 38.5m NW-SE) separated by a fosse (Wth of top 6.5m-7.5m; Wth of base 2-2.5m; int. D 0.6-0.7m; ext. D 0.8-0.9m) from an outer earthen bank (Wth of base 3-5.8m; ext. H 0.5m at NW to 1.2m at SE).
The earthwork was damaged in 1988 and a subsequent excavation (E000510) in the years 1989-1993 revealed a complex of features including a possible Neolithic house, two hut-sites, two enclosures, two timber circles and a ritual burial. In the final 1993 season the earliest fosse uncovered (ME011-040002-) was Neolithic in date but an oval enclosure (dim. 29m N-S) defined by a single narrow palisade trench and with an entrance at SE was also uncovered. It is associated with coarse pottery that produced a radiocarbon date of 1500-800 BC, and encloses a hut-site (ME011-040005-). (Newman 1993b; 1993c, 7-8; 1993, 21d)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 10 April, 2019

References

Newman, C. 1993d Sleeping in Elysium. Archaeology Ireland, 7, 3, 20-24.

Newman, C. 1993b ‘Rafin Fort': Ritual enclosure. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 1992: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 52. Wordwell, Bray

Newman, C. 1993c Raffin Fort, Co. Meath Interim Report. Unpublished report, Author