2003:461 - BALROTHERY: Skerries Road, Dublin

A large-scale housing development is proposed for the site, which consists of a single large grazing field, measuring 250m north–south by 285m, comprising eleven acres. The site was tested in January 2003 by Stuart Halliday and Jane Hamill. Some material of archaeological potential was uncovered, most notably F4, a circular deposit of charcoal and fragments of burnt bone, which appeared to be a Bronze Age cremation. It was recommended that all features uncovered during testing be fully excavated. To this end, three areas of excavation (Areas 1–3) were established, each measuring 50m east–west by 20m. Work took place on 28 and 29 October 2003.

Area 1 contained only a pit-like feature filled with sterile pale-grey silty clay. No archaeological features or deposits were uncovered in Area 2. The F4 cremation deposit identified in January 2003 was excavated in Area 3. It quickly became clear that the deposit was contained within the base of an upright ceramic cremation vessel, measuring 0.3m in diameter by 0.11m deep. The vessel was taken from the ground by a conservator and sent for conservation treatment. The cremation deposit was removed and sent for analysis by a specialist. The find was an entirely isolated discovery. Area 3 produced no evidence for other Bronze Age burials, either cremation pits or cist graves, or any sign of an enclosing ditch that might have defined the limits of a flat cemetery on the site. We cannot be certain if the cremation was always an isolated burial or is simply the only surviving remnant of a large group of burials. Monitoring of topsoil-stripping during development work may uncover other signs of Bronze Age settlement and provide some kind of context for the discovery.

13 Anglesea Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2