County: Meath Site name: NORTHERN MOTORWAY SITE NO. 3, Sheephouse
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0811
Author: Dermot Nelis, Irish Archaeological Consultancy
Site type: Enclosure and Cremation pit
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 705079m, N 774311m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.707905, -6.408358
Site 3 is an oval enclosure situated on a gentle north-facing slope and measuring c. 30m x 30m (internally). The site was discovered during test-trenching carried out by Valerie J. Keeley Ltd. The enclosure is defined by a 1.75m-wide ditch. Topsoil-stripping began in November 2000, revealing the extent of the enclosure, along with internal post-holes and pits and additional peripheral material.
Two cremation pits, one truncating the other, were revealed south of the enclosure. Three definite deposits of burnt human bone fragments were retrieved; the two from the later pit were separated by a small, charred, wooden plank. The pit was sealed by a dark brown, charcoal-rich, silty soil, in which a saddle quern had been deposited.
Excavation of the enclosure is ongoing.
8 Dungar Terrace, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
