2000:0675 - FARRANDREG, Dundalk, Louth

Monitoring of topsoil removal along the pipeline corridor of the Farrandreg Drainage Scheme took place in tandem with the excavation of a section of the pipeline corridor immediately to the west of a souterrain (see Excavations 2000, No. 674). The scheme was divided into two main areas: Field 1, in which the souterrain was located, and Field 2 to the west.

In the course of monitoring, a series of small, discrete, archaeological deposits identified at the northern end of the pipeline corridor in Field 1 were excavated. Only two of them produced significant archaeological material, indicative of a Bronze Age date. Also, during topsoil removal, two possible fulachta fiadh were identified at the western end of the pipeline corridor, in Field 2, which would require further archaeological investigation (see Excavations 2000, No. 676).

The archaeological remains identified in Field 1 comprised a series of discrete pits and post-holes. These do not have any relationship to the souterrain located c. 200m to the south-east. However, one pit and possibly also the hearth (C9) may indicate activity of Bronze Age date, possibly domestic activity, at the northern end of the field. The pit was subcircular and round-bottomed (0.99m x 0.71m in diameter; 0.21m deep). The fill was charcoal-rich (though with no evidence for in situ burning) and produced approximately 200 mostly large, well-preserved sherds of collared urn. Provisionally, the remains of two urns can be identified. The pit also produced three small sherds of heavily decorated pottery, which have been provisionally identified as Beaker—the decoration on the sherds is very similar to that on a Beaker pot from Moytirra wedge tomb, Co. Sligo (Waddell 1998, 115). This pottery is currently undergoing analysis, and it is hoped, given the quantity and quality of the sherds, that at least one urn can be reconstructed from them. The pit produced no evidence for cremated bone, so it would appear to have resulted from non-funerary activity, despite the presence of pottery more conventionally associated with a funerary context.

The hearth (C4) had an oval, round-bottomed cut (C9). It had three fills, the lowest (C8) being a layer of burnt clay; above this was a layer of charcoal (C7) 0.04m deep, and sealing this was C4, a charcoal-flecked, orange-brown, sandy clay. It is hoped that radiocarbon dating of this feature will be possible.

The remaining features did not produce any diagnostic material. However, with the exception of the post-hole (C16), they were at least partially cut into topsoil, so their archaeological significance would appear to be limited.

Though the presence of collared urn at domestic and ritual sites in Britain is well attested (Longworth 1984), its discovery in non-funerary contexts in Ireland is very uncommon. Similarly, the association of Beaker pottery and collared urn, though exemplified in Britain, has not been well attested in an Irish context (Longworth 1984; Waddell 1998). Conventionally, Beaker pottery in Ireland is dated to the third millennium BC, and collared urn to the second millennium BC (Brindley 1995, 4–13; Waddell 1998). They are usually viewed as successive rather than contemporary forms.

Throughout the area stripped of topsoil during the programme of monitoring, there were visible ploughmarks in the subsoil, indicative of deep disturbance by agricultural activity. This may be the reason for the isolated nature of the evidence for Bronze Age activity at the northern end of the pipeline and the lack of any evidence for associated structures. However, it is not impossible that further associated archaeological remains survive outside of the area stripped of topsoil.

References
Brindley, A.L. 1995 Radiocarbon, chronology and the Bronze Age. In J. Waddell and E. Shee Twohig (eds), Ireland in the Bronze Age. Dublin.
Longworth, I.H. 1984 Collared urns of the Bronze Age in Great Britain and Ireland. Cambridge.
Waddell, J. 1998 The prehistoric archaeology of Ireland. Galway.

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