2005:AD9 - DUNBOYNE 2, DUNBOYNE, Meath

Excavation in advance of the M3 Clonee to North of Kells motorway (Contract 1: Dunboyne to Dunshaughlin) revealed a prehistoric settlement comprising a circular structure with associated pits and hearths, which had been truncated by a medieval field system. Also located within the area of excavation were a number of kiln features of unknown date and features associated with ironworking. Tested in 2004 (Excavations 2004, No. 1232, 04E0490), the site was excavated in August and September 2005.
The prehistoric settlement probably dates to the Bronze Age. The structure had been severely truncated by medieval agriculture and modern quarrying. Only the base of the deepest pits and post-holes survived, with the exception of one pit feature, probably because it had been buried beneath the bank of the medieval field system. The surviving features suggested a circular structure c. 6m in diameter with evidence for an external hearth.
No stratified artefacts or animal remains were recovered from the structure or associated features. The disturbance at the site had, however, dispersed a number of prehistoric artefacts around the site, including several retouched flint and chert flakes, a single fragment of unidentified coarseware pottery and the blade portion of a Group VI tuff axe (most probably from Cumbria in Britain). The site may have some connection to a number of disturbed fulachta fiadh uncovered around the nearby Tolka River and excavated in advance of the M3 (i.e. at Bracetown, No. AD4 above, A017/006, and Bennetstown 2, A017/004). Similarly, possible Bronze Age cremation pits (Dunboyne 1, No. AD8 above, A017/007) and a pit containing Late Neolithic and Beaker pottery (Dunboyne 3, No. AD10 below, A017/013) were discovered at locations elsewhere within the townland.
Portions of three separate medieval ditches were recorded. These may have been plot boundaries for properties that fronted onto the Dunboyne–Navan road, a medieval road marked on the 17th-century Civil Survey map of the area. The main ditch formed an L-shape that ran east–west through the centre of the prehistoric structure before turning north under neighbouring properties situated beyond the road-take. This main ditch contained sherds of glazed and unglazed cooking wares, probably 14th century in date, as well as small quantities of animal bone. An iron arrowhead found in topsoil clearance may date to the same period.
Two kiln features, probably cereal driers, were located within the site. These were deep, oval-shaped, oxidised cuts. They could not be stratigraphically related to the prehistoric or medieval features on site: one was cut through a buried ploughsoil that sealed the prehistoric features, while the other was truncated by a modern ditch. Two features containing metallic waste were also excavated. One appeared to be either a small bowl furnace or the base of a shaft furnace for the smelting of iron ore. The second contained slag and a large amount of disturbed vitrified clay lining.