County: Louth Site name: AGHNASKEAGH, PROLEEK ACRES/PLASTER (Area 13)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A002/000, A002/004
Author: Eoin Halpin, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 707346m, N 812386m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.049450, -6.360713
Archaeological assessment commissioned by DRD Roads Service was undertaken along the proposed A1/N1 Newry–Dundalk link road. Archaeological evaluation was carried out along a number of locations highlighted in the EIA as areas of high archaeological potential. Testing was carried out in Area 13 within Aghnaskeagh, Proleek Acres and Plaster townlands between Chainages 12150 and 12650. A total of 2080m2 was tested, which is 6.9% of the total area.
Testing along Area 13 uncovered one extensive Bronze Age fulacht fiadh complex and twelve small spreads of charcoal-flecked soils of apparently isolated features of uncertain date. While the dates and functions of these features remain unresolved, they represent, at the very least, previously unrecorded human activity in the area and may prove to be of antiquity, given the archaeological ambience of the area.
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