County: Meath Site name: TRIM: Athboy Road
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E0169
Author: Alan Hayden, Archaeological Projects Ltd.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 679433m, N 757321m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.559787, -6.801039
Assessment (No. 1467, Excavations 2003, 02E1812) revealed the presence of two heavily disturbed burnt mounds on this site. They were excavated in February 2003.
At Site 1, a thin and patchy spread of burnt-mound material covered an area 5.5m in diameter sitting on a slight rise in the field. Excavation revealed a number of pits and hollows and a few stake-holes cut into subsoil. Pits 8, 21 and 22 may have been the main troughs but showed no remains of lining. All were less than 0.6m in depth but may originally have been deeper, as cultivation had severely damaged the site. Several of the pits also intercut each other, showing that several phases of activity are evidenced. A small but very fine flint leaf-shaped arrowhead, uncovered from the burnt-mound material lying on subsoil, was the only find. It is likely to be of Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age date.
Site 2 was a thinner, patchier and smaller spread of burnt-mound material further south on the site. There were a number of shallow pits and hollows filled with burnt material in the area, but no convincing trough. No finds were uncovered.
Subsequent monitoring of topsoil-stripping on the site failed to reveal any further features.
27 Coulson Avenue, Rathgar, Dublin 6
