Hut site

The National Monuments Service's description

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).

Structure 3 is a circular hut-site (int. diam. 7.75m N-S; 7.25m E-W) defined by 10 postholes on the perimeter that are placed c. 1.5-1.7m apart and it has a projecting entrance porch (Wth c. 1m; L c. 1.7m) at SE. It is located c. 6m NW of the site of Structure 1 and had no internal hearth, although a hearth (dims 1.19m x 1m; D 0.11m) located c. 10m to the NE might have served it. No artefacts were recovered from the postholes, but a sample of hazel charcoal from one provided a C14 date of 1436-13114 cal. BC (UBA 12099) while a sample of alder charcoal from another yielded a determination of 1426-1271 cal. BC (UBA 12102), placing the hut-site in the Middle Bronze Age (1700-1200 BC).

Two pairs of postholes, together with some stakeholes form a NE-SW line towards the SE edge of the interior and it is thought that they might form an internal partition. From either end of this feature a line of multiple stakeholes extends NW, delineating a square area (dims c. 3m x 3m) at the centre of the hut-site that is open to the NW. The NE line of stakeholes post-dates an extensive layer of grey/brown silty sand that occupied much of the interior, and only five stakeholes of the 80 or so in the interior can be shown to pre-date this deposit. The deposit itself produced no artefacts, but three sherds of an early Neolithic carinated bowl were recovered from one of the stakeholes cut through it. A large irregularly-shaped pit (dims 2.6m x 2.3m; D 0.32m), with a stone-lined base that included a fragment of a saddle quern, was cut through the entrance area, destroying the original connection between the hut-site and its porch. A single sherd of a carinated bowl was recovered from the pit and a sample of alder charcoal from its base provided a C14 date of 3791-3659 cal. BC (UBA 12098). The pit must post-date the abandonment of the hut-site but it seems to contain redeposited material, perhaps from a Neolithic midden. (Lyne 2011, 18-27)

See the attached plans adapted from Lyne (2011, figs 7, 10)
ME017-085_1 Site plan;
ME0117-085003- Hut-site;

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 16 March 2022

References

Lyne, E. 2011 M3 Clonee – North of Kells, Contract 4, Navan to Kells and Kells Bypass. Final Report on Kilmainham 1A, Co. Meath. Licence: E003141. Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy

Roynane, J. 2005 M3 Clonee-North of Kells; Contract 4, Navan - Kells and Kells Bypass. Report on Archaeological Assessment at Testing Area 10 in Kilmainham, County Meath. Licence: 04E0917. Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy