County: Louth Site name: DUNDALK: (Area 17) Marshes Upper
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0200
Author: Matt Mossop, ACS Ltd, Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth.
Site type: Pit, Kiln - corn-drying and Structure
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 705628m, N 805061m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.984005, -6.389476
Excavations were carried out between 4 March and 10 April 2002 before the development of Phase I of the proposed five playing pitches at the Dundalk Institute of Technology. The area comprised 8ha, and nineteen sites were revealed during the monitoring of the topsoil-stripping. Area 17 required complete excavation as it was situated above the proposed level of Pitch 2. The site was divided into sectors, which extended over an area measuring 60m by 40m. These contained two small enclosures, a corn-drying kiln, a substantial windbreak, a Bronze Age cooking pit and various pits and post-holes.
The northern sector contained two small oval pits and two possible post-holes, both burnt in situ.
The eastern sector consisted of a curvilinear enclosure measuring 14m east–west by 6.1m; the northern side had been truncated. It had a U-shaped profile and was 0.65m wide and 0.4m deep. It contained oak and alder/birch charcoal, some worked flint, cremated bone and one cow/horse tooth and yielded a calibrated radiocarbon date of AD 350–530 from the backfill. Within the enclosure lay a shallow oval pit that measured 1.37m north–south by 1.29m and was 0.19m deep.
The central sector contained a shallow C-shaped enclosure measuring 7m east–west by 5m externally. It had a U-shaped profile, with a maximum depth of 0.27m and a maximum width of 1.5m. It was oriented so that it opened downslope to the south-west and may have been truncated by the modern ditch system. It contained a shallow pit, measuring 1.2m east–west by 1.09m by 0.1m deep.
In between the small enclosures a corn-drying kiln was excavated, measuring 2.6m north–south by 1.33m, with a maximum depth of 0.91m. The deepest, northern chamber was heavily oxidised around the base, and a small alder timber found here yielded a calibrated radiocarbon date of AD 330–580. Alder charcoal from the backfill seemingly included material from the earlier firings of the kiln and yielded a calibrated radiocarbon date of AD 30–365.
In the southern sector a field-boundary ditch of 1782–1836 extended 59m east–west across the entire site. It had a U-shaped profile and was 1.2m wide and 0.6m deep. A post-hole and a small pit were excavated south of this.
In the western sector a substantial post-built windbreak, c. 5m long, sheltered an area around a rectangular trough from the prevailing south-westerly wind. The trough measured 1.35m north–south by 0.79m and was 0.28m in maximum depth. It contained a moderate amount of charcoal (calibrated radiocarbon date 800–520 BC) and occasional burnt stone and cremated animal bone. The windbreak had a number of stakes seemingly repairing the central part, and a second windbreak, a stone-packed post-built structure, had in turn replaced this. Just 1.8m to the north-east a group of four stakes formed a neat rectangle measuring 0.4m by 0.3m. A spread beneath these features yielded two Bronze Age pottery sherds, one with possible burnt food residue.
To the west of the structure were a slot-trench and a Bronze Age cooking pit, the latter 0.66m in diameter and 0.34m deep; it had been reused on a number of occasions. The natural was heavily oxidised in the base, and some cremated animal bone was found in the fill. The final burning was dated by its ash charcoal layer to 1440–1130 BC.
A number of sizeable post-holes outside the main structure probably represent some sort of fencing or screens.
