County: Dublin Site name: LUSK: Skerries Road
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0903
Author: Stuart Halliday, Arch-Tech Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 721678m, N 754480m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.526184, -6.164804
Features of archaeological significance identified during monitoring (No. 622, Excavations 2004, 04E0751) were subject to full excavation.
The main features of note that were identified comprised a series of circular pits that were all very similar in form and size. In plan, they appeared to be laid out in rows aligned both north-south and east-west. With the exception of sherds of medieval pottery, no finds were retrieved from any of the pits and their function is unclear at present. None of the features was exceptionally deep, with the majority having a depth of less than 0.1m. The layout of these pits may be suggestive of some activity related to gardening, but further analysis will have to be undertaken in order to determine possible function or date. Environmental soil samples have been taken from all features and analysis of these samples will take place during full post-excavation works.
Of the remaining features, Pit 035 in the northwest corner of the site may be indicative of a fulacht fiadh in the area, although not in this specific site.
Of the seven linear features identified on this site, the retrieval of sherds of post-medieval pottery is indicative of a later date for these features, while their form is suggestive of either drainage ditches or field boundaries. If these features were field boundaries, the system may be indicative of strip fields, although these would not be aligned the same way that other strip field are aligned around the remainder of Lusk. It is more likely that these features represent the remains of drains.
32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2
