County: Meath Site name: BALGEEN 5
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0943
Author: Robert O’Hara, ACS Ltd.
Site type: Habitation site
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 709855m, N 769165m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.660699, -6.337871
One curved ditch and three deposits were exposed below the sod and topsoil. The ditch had been cut into a deposit/pit containing redeposited clay, 0.59m thick, and lay above the exposed features and the compact, natural, orange clay and stone. The single ditch was exposed for a short length. It appeared to terminate to the south-west and did not continue into the north-western part of the site. The presence of the animal bone in the redeposited clay suggests some form of domestic activity, possibly settlement. Consequently, it is possible that this site is similar in typology and function to that exposed at Balgeen 4 Ext. (No. 1423, Excavations 2002). The ditch was found in association with a number of deposits containing some charcoal flecks, and, although no hearth or oxidised clay was exposed, these deposits clearly indicate burning. A charcoal sample from the redeposited clay has been sent for radiocarbon dating.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
