County: Monaghan Site name: MONALTYBANE (1, Site 102)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1297
Author: Tim Coughlan, Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 686632m, N 802011m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.960144, -6.679880
An excavation, funded by Monaghan County Council and the National Roads Authority, was completed in Monaltybane, c. 2.5km to the south-east of Carrickmacross, in advance of the construction of the N2 Carrickmacross-Aclint Road Realignment. The site was identified as a result of testing undertaken by Tim Coughlan in March–April 2003 (No. 1482, Excavations 2003, 03E0388). It was located on the south slope of a low drumlin.
The site was stripped of topsoil using a machine fitted with a toothless bucket. An area 10m by 10m was opened around the feature identified during the centre-line testing. The site consisted of a single shallow pit, roughly circular in plan, 1.3m in diameter, with a gentle U-shaped profile. It was a maximum depth of 0.4m and was filled with a deposit of shattered sandstones within a grey silt. The stone had the appearance of being heat-shattered, but there was no evidence of charcoal or of the sides of the cut being burnt. It is probable that the pit represented a dump of material rather than burning in situ. There were no other archaeological features in the area. There were no finds or datable samples from the site, so it is not known with what period it is associated.
8 Dungar Terrace, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
