2000:0654 - CRUMLIN (2C), Louth

This site was identified during archaeological monitoring carried out on the digging of interceptor drainage for the construction of the Northern Motorway/Dunleer–Dundalk Bypass. This area had been topsoil-stripped earlier in the construction phase. Only the grass of the sod was removed, and the remainder of the layer was sealed beneath ‘fill’ of the new road. It was during the deeper excavation of trenches for the interceptor drains that this site was identified.

The site was located c. 150m to the east of Crumlin 2C, at the base of an east-sloping hill and 10m from a stream. A modern drain divided the site. There had been much disturbance to the north and west of both cuttings as a result of drainage work related to the stream. The site was initially identified as an area of burning and inclusions of ?iron slag. A single flint fragment was recovered from the east of the northern cutting, an area that had been very disturbed. It was identified as a possible core fragment of translucent flint.

During the course of the excavation it became obvious that what was thought to be an archaeological deposit was in fact naturally occurring peat deposits with inclusions of decayed stone laid down on the undulating subsoil, giving the impression, in section, of pits. The site was fully excavated to ensure that no archaeological material was present.

Although one ?worked flint fragment was recovered in an area of disturbance, the site is considered not to be of archaeological significance.

Editor’s note: The summary of this excavation, which was carried out during 1999, arrived too late for publication in the bulletin of that year.