1969:013 - DÚN ÁILLINE (Knockaulin), Kildare

Excavation continued for the second season at this large univallate Hillfort. On the summit of the hill a low mound was excavated; this had coincided with a strong magnetic anomaly detected by a Caesium Magnetometer survey in 1968. It overlay a series of 13 pits (as yet unexcavated) and was itself overlaid at one point by an arc-shaped embankment - possibly an incomplete and destroyed ringfort. In the same area a series of curved, parallel trenches suggested the existence of a 3 phase sequence of palisades enclosing a settlement area of (?) Early Iron Age site. Finds from the area include 3 bronze fibulae, many heavily corroded iron objects, cut bone and worked stone, glass armlets and beads. Other finds from the site included flint artefacts, stone axes, and coarse decorated pottery from an area of Neolithic activity near the summit of the hill.