Excavation - miscellaneous

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated at the crest of the S-facing slope of a broad hill, c. 240m NW of the tower house (ME049-002----) and c. 220m N of the medieval excavated features (ME049-035----). Archaeological testing (06E1231) by A. Collins (2008, 18) in advance of the realignment of a N-S section of the R158 road identified archaeological deposits extending over a narrow strip (dims 100m N-S; 17m E-W) on the E side of the existing road that were subsequently excavated (07E0296) as Site 10 by E. Larsson (excavations.ie 2007:1313). Lithics of a Neolithic character and some pits of later prehistoric date are present, while two cereal-drying kilns were also recorded in this era. Two groups of burials, dating to the early medieval and the post-medieval periods were excavated as well as a N-W ditch that is probably an earlier iteration of the existing road bank and ditch. (Larsson 2009)

An isolated oval, flat-bottomed pit (dims 1.03m x 0.6m; max. D 0.36m) had four fills of sandy/silty clays with some charcoal flecks and animal bones. A secondary fill contained three small glass beads, and a sample from the same layer produced a C14 date of 360-90 cal. BC. A pit (dims 0.8m x 0.58m; D 0.3m: ) c. 30m to the N contained fills with burnt stone and a sample returned a determination of 50 cal. BC to 80 cal. AD. The adjacent pit (diam. 1.85m; max. D 0.73m) had six fills, largely of clayey silts with and without animal bones, but the uppermost layer had dense concentrations of charcoal and burnt stones. (Larsson 2009, 20-1)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 29 June 2021

References

Collins, A. 2008 Archaeological Testing Report. R158 Summerhill to Kilcock Road Realignment in County Meath. Licence: 06E1231. Unpublished report, CRDS

Larsson, E. 2009 R158 Realignment Scheme, Summerhill to Kilcock Road Improvement Scheme. Final Report Licence: 07E0296, Site 10 – Garadice, Co. Meath. Unpublished report, CRDS