County: Meath Site name: RAYNESTOWN (2)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A017/017, E3039
Author: Stuart D. Elder, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 698153m, N 748858m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.480590, -6.521229
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 Eamonn Cotter in March 2004 (Excavations 2004, No. 1333, 04E0472). Full resolution of the site between July and August 2006 revealed a complex of sixteen pits, five post-holes and one stake-hole. Two of the pits in the main cluster appear to have been joined by the insertion of a narrow channel between them, which had a constriction in the central portion. There was no immediate evidence of oxidisation through in situ burning, but as one pit was cut to a lower level than the other, it is possible that this pair of pits may represent some form of drying kiln. The deposits within the pits were consistent with burnt-mound activity. The post- and stake-holes were located in the area of the pit cluster but formed no obvious structure. Artefacts were few and consisted of a single flint flake, sixteen animal-bone fragments and ten animal-tooth fragments.
The nature of the deposits and the scant artefact evidence suggest that the site represents a burnt mound. It is quite uncommon to find as many pit/trough features at a single site of this type. The addition of the possible grain-dryer is also a departure from the accepted norm and suggests a wider use of the site other than the more commonly held belief that such sites are used chiefly for cooking by roving bands of hunters. The scale and complexity of the features suggests a more stable domestic and semi-industrial use, and a settlement site must surely be located nearby.
21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda
