County: Meath Site name: KILMESSAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E0075
Author: Red Tobin, RedArc Ltd, Archaeological Services for CRDS Ltd.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 688579m, N 757989m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.564323, -6.662841
Kilmessan 1 was identified as being in an area of high archaeological potential prior to the commencement of site works and was identified during testing (Excavations 2004, No. 1236, 04E1499) and topsoil removal in the area. The area exposed lay within the wayleave, giving construction access for the Dunshaughlin to Castletown Tara trunk sewer. This wayleave was generally defined as being 20m in width.
Fully uncovered, the site measured 26m north–south by 12m. The topsoil depth ranged between 0.3 and 0.7m. Two distinct mounds of firing material were unearthed. One was a black, charcoal-rich soil with a low percentage (40%) of heat-shattered stones, while the other consisted of classic burnt-mound material. Another mound of firing material was unearthed during the excavation of the site. A complex of six stake-holes was found cut through a decayed sod layer overlying the burnt-mound material. No other cut features were recorded. The site appears to have been disturbed by a deliberate rerouting of the River Skane.
35 Brook Meadow, Avoca, Co. Wicklow
