Pit

The National Monuments Service's description

Archaeological monitoring (15E0577) by P. Duffy, D. Bayle and J. Whitaker of topsoil stripping over a large area (c. 92 ha.) conducted intermittently between Dec. 2015 and October 2018 uncovered 37 locations of potential archaeological importance (excavations.ie 2016:051). Each of these was further investigated by the same archaeologists under different licences. Site 34 was excavated (18E0143) as almost the last excavation of the project, and what is referred to as a kiln is probably two intercutting pits creating a figure-of-eight feature (L 1.35m: D 0.21m) filled with oxidised black/red baked clay, charcoal and burnt stone. A samples of oak charcoal provided a C14 date of 2866-2573 cal. BC (FTMC-BD08-11), while an adjacent pit (diam. 0.9m; D 0.3m) filled with yellow/grey silty clays yielded a C14 date of 2870-2581 cal. BC (FTMC-BD08-13), also from oak charcoal, placing both features in the Late Neolithic. A charcoal-making pit and associated boundary (ME051-058001-) were c. 15m to the SSE. (Duffy et. al. 2021, 7)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 26 April, 2023

Duffy, P., Fairhead, S. & F. Fleeshouven 2021 Final Excavation Report for Sites 3-37, Clonee, Portan, Gunnocks, Co. Meath. Multiple licences, Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy