County: Kildare Site name: Baronsland
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E002883
Author: Emer Dennehy, for Headland Archaeology Ltd, Unit 1, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork.
Site type: Prehistoric pits
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 683457m, N 703867m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.078893, -6.754385
The site was identified in 2005 during testing of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Carlow roadway by IAC Ltd. At this time the site was recorded as comprising a single subcircular pit, 0.5m in diameter and 0.13m in depth, that contained a charcoal fill. An area measuring 100m2 was stripped of topsoil. Excavation commenced on site on 27 August 2007 and was completed on 3 September 2007.
The excavation revealed the remains of two pits and three furrows orientated north-west/south-east. Pit 013, which measured 1.57m north–south by 1.1m by 0.5m in depth, exhibited evidence for at least two episodes of use. Its fills were primarily composed of charcoal-enriched silty clays. The remaining pit, Pit 07, was subcircular in plan, measuring 0.7m north–south by 0.67m by 0.28m in depth. It contained three fills, the uppermost comprising a brown gravel backfill layer with the underlying fills comprising charcoal-rich silts. One of these also contained a sherd of prehistoric pottery.
An analysis of the macrofloral remains and pottery from the two pits is pending and the features have been interpreted as rubbish pits. The site is in immediate proximity to sites E2884 (see No. 767 below) and E2882 (see No. 765 above), which also produced quantities of prehistoric pottery and tools. It is reasonable to interpret these three sites, located within a 50m length of the road route, as components of one large prehistoric settlement site.
