2006:1361 - DUNGOOLY (46F02), Louth

This site was discovered during monitoring of topsoil-stripping along the route of the proposed south–north gas pipeline to be constructed by Bord Gáis Éireann. The site was located in Fields 2 and 3 at Road Crossing 46 (46F02, 03) in the townland of Dungooly.

The site consisted of three areas, A–C, all of which were located around the perimeter of an area of wetland. Area A was located to the west of the pipe trench and at the south-west of the site. The archaeological remains consisted of a platform and part of a man-made island. The artificial island extended outside of the pipeline corridor to the south-west. The island consisted of three layers of clay deposits and was roughly subcircular, measuring c. 5m in diameter. The platform consisted of an arrangement of seven brushwoods laid transversely on a rough stone-and-sand foundation and a large amount of root material. Six of the brushwoods had chisel points and exhibited toolmarks. Approximately 5m to the north-west of these was a 6.5m-long section of oak tree trunk; this was natural. There is no evidence to suggest whether or not this tree was felled, but it could have provided a walking surface. It was orientated east-north-east/west-south-west and was pointed in the general direction of the small burnt mound in Area C.

Area B was located to the east of Area A. Here, the archaeology consisted of a subcircular burnt mound, which overlay two oval troughs. The mound measured 14.5m north–south by 12.1m. The troughs were located in the south-west central area of the mound and were 1.15m apart. The trough walls were wattle-lined and each trough displayed contrasting styles of wattle construction. The base of the northern trough consisted of stone flagging, whereas the lining in the base of the southern trough was comprised of three longitudinally placed planks, which were set at angles to construct a wooden trough or basin-like feature in the base of the pit. The remains of two larger posts, which exhibited toolmarks, were found behind the wattle lining in the south-east corner of the southern trough. The troughs were cut into peat in the driest portion of the area, which consisted of a small hummock within the bog.

The land dropped away to the west, south and north, with the north-east and east remaining at the same level within the area of excavation. Roots, twigs and small branches, none of which showed evidence for woodworking, were found underlying the west and south edges of the mound. These appeared to have been deposited around the hummock in the lower-lying areas in an attempt to reclaim land surrounding the troughs, perhaps with the intention of extending the area of ground available for the deposition of the mound material. On the north-west side, several larger timbers and associated pegs were more carefully deposited. One of these timbers, a length of roundwood, exhibited evidence of branch trimming. These timbers would appear to have created a much more stable area, or platform. They were reminiscent of a substructure on to which a platform may have been placed. These were surrounded by a spread of charred wood chips. This area was sealed by the earliest phase of mound deposition, into which a small shallow oval feature was cut, directly overlying the timbers. Several flat stones were placed in the base of the feature, thus creating a small but solid surface no more than 0.6m to the west of the northern trough. The construction of this surface and the stone used was very similar to that in the base of the northern trough. The lower-lying parts of the mound were sealed by peat, as were small depressions on the surface of the mound marking the location of the troughs and stone platform, leaving only the north-east portion visible directly underlying the topsoil.

Area C was located 118m north-east of Areas A and B. It lay on the opposing perimeter of the wetland area within the pipeline corridor. The archaeological remains in this area consisted of a small burnt mound and associated rectangular trough. The mound, which measured 10.6m north-north-east by a surviving width of 3.5m, was characterised by one clear phase of deposition. The mound deposit was located mostly on dry land but fell away downslope towards the low-lying peatland to the west, where it was completely truncated by a field boundary, which had been removed for the purpose of the pipeline construction. The rectangular trough, which was cut into subsoil underlying the mound, measured 1.46m north-west/south-east by 0.94m. The cut was deepest on the eastern side, where it measured 0.54m and cut into the gradient. It became shallower as it followed the slope of the hill and measured 0.34m on the western side. A small shallow hearth was located immediately east of the mound.

The archaeology present within the study area appears to represent marginal land usage consisting of reclamation, a possible platform and two burnt mounds or fulachta fiadh. There was no evidence to link the three areas stratigraphically. Flint debitage was found in all three areas and a flint scraper was produced from within the mound material in Area B. A piece of a leather shoe was found in topsoil, but this appears to be recent in date.

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