County: Laois Site name: JAMESTOWN 1
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E0714
Author: Jonathan Dempsey, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 659928m, N 707265m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.112580, -7.104867
Jamestown 1 consisted of a heavily truncated pit identified during monitoring of the construction topsoil-strip of the M7 Heath–Mayfield Motorway Scheme (No. 1051, Excavations 2003, 03E0623).
The pit was sub-oval in shape with rounded corners and measured 1.09m east–west by 0.6m by 80mm deep. The sides were concave and sloped gently to a flat base which sloped from east to west. This pit had a homogenous fill consisting of a heavily oxidised, friable, red clayey silt with moderate subangular heat-fractured stones, up to 0.1m in length, and occasional flecks of charcoal. It was cut into the natural, which comprised a firm, orangey-brown, clayey silt with frequent sub-rounded/subangular stones up to 0.25m in length.
The lack of oxidisation of the cut of the pit or in the immediate area may indicate that burning did not take place in situ but rather that burnt material was dumped into the pit. Jamestown 1 is likely to have been associated with the complex of features to the south-east, resolved by Patricia Lynch (03E0679).
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
