2007:1385 - Ross 2, Meath

This site, located within Contract 2 (Dunshaughlin–Navan) of the proposed M3 Clonee to North of Kells motorway, was excavated in 2007. The site was located along the southern bank of the Gabhra River and features comprised successive field boundaries along with part of a ring-barrow ditch (internal diameter 5.2m). A poorly preserved, extensively truncated human burial was found c. 5m south-east of this barrow. There were further burials identified in the immediate surroundings including an early medieval cemetery and cremation burial at Collierstown 1 (A008/015, No. 1286 above) and a Bronze Age cremation at Collierstown 2 (A008/016, No. 1287 above), the latter c. 50m north-east on the opposite bank of the Gabhra River. A circular gully (c. 5m diameter) represented possible settlement activity and enclosed a pit and a deposit of burnt material. A U-shaped enclosure (20m diameter), with a probable eastern entrance and a southern annexe, was formed by two arcuate curvilinear ditches which contained small amounts of animal bone. Two cereal-drying kilns, one figure-of-eight-shaped, the other keyhole-shaped, contained charred seeds. Two separate groups of field boundaries were noted. Finds included struck flint, assorted iron fragments and an unfinished lignite bracelet.