County: Meath Site name: Cooksland 3
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: A017/023, E3045
Author: Steve Linnane, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd, 21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda.
Site type: Ring-ditch, possible
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 696026m, N 753382m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.521626, -6.551886
This site was located within Contract 1 (Dunboyne to Dunshaughlin) of the proposed M3 Clonee to north of Kells motorway and was identified during advance testing by Tara O’Neill in April 2004 (Excavations 2004, No. 1337, 04E0479). Full resolution of the site took place in June 2006. Recent agricultural practices had detrimentally affected the archaeological features on site. These included three possible pits/spreads (maximum depth 0.07m) containing charcoal and cremated bone and a curvilinear feature which formed a quadrant at the centre and petered out at either end. A preliminary interpretation might suggest that Cooksland 3 represents the remains of a very heavily truncated ring-ditch with associated cremation pits, possibly dating to the Bronze Age.
