2009:641 - DONACARNEY GREAT, Meath

Eleven trenches were excavated during a second phase of testing carried out on Site B of a proposed development site, in order to determine the full extent and character of the archaeological features identified during the first phase of assessment undertaken on the site (see Excavations 2008, No. 951, for previous work).
The earliest evidence was characterised by a series of six circular enclosures (Enclosures A–E and G), a flattened mound (Enclosure F) and a linear ditch (F151/F185) on the western part of the site. Enclosures A (ME021–025), C and D were settlement sites, although there is evidence that cremation burials may also have been interred within Enclosure
D. Further burial evidence came from a cremation burial contained within a Bronze Age urn in Enclosure F, as well as possible cremation burials within the ditch of Enclosure E and just outside the ditch of Enclosure G. Ceramics recovered during test excavations indicate that these enclosures are probably Bronze Age in date. No dating evidence was uncovered for Enclosure B (ME021–026) but, given its morphological similarity and proximity to the other circular enclosures, it is probably also Bronze Age in date.
Enclosure A was 16.4m in diameter. It was defined by a ditch 0.8–1m wide and 0.48m deep with a U-shaped profile. A piece of struck flint was identified within the ditch fill during the first phase of testing. Several internal features including a structure, indicated by a row of three post-holes, were recorded and two pits were uncovered 6.4m to the west of the enclosure.
Enclosure B was located 55m to the south-east of Enclosure A and was c. 10m in diameter. The northern and eastern sides of the enclosure were defined by a 0.66m-wide ditch. This was 0.2m deep with a U-shaped profile and was filled with sterile yellow sand.
Enclosure C, which was located c. 35m to the south-west of enclosure B, was 30m in diameter. The enclosing ditch was 1.4m wide and 0.6m deep. A series of features within the enclosure included two probable kilns, a structure indicated by a slot-trench and a post-hole, and a spread of charcoal. The slot-trench measured 0.4m wide and 0.25m deep and a fragment of a broken quernstone was recovered from it. A thumbnail scraper and a flake, both made of flint, were recovered from the charcoal spread. Another kiln was located to the north of the enclosure and a sherd of pottery was recovered from its fill.
Enclosure D was 26m in diameter and was located
c. 15m to the north of Enclosure A. The remains of a structure within the northern end of Enclosure D were indicated by a series of post-holes. A possible burial function for the enclosure was indicated by fragments of highly burnt bone, identified during the first phase of testing. Enclosure E was located immediately south-east of Enclosure D and was much smaller (10m diameter). No finds were recovered from the ditches of Enclosures D or E or from any of the internal features; however, their proximity to Enclosures A and C suggests a broadly contemporary date.
Enclosure G was located c. 45m to the north of Enclosure D and was 13m in diameter. A sherd of coarseware and a chert flake were recovered from its ditch and a probable cremation burial-pit was identified in close proximity to the ditch. A series of features identified to the south of Enclosure G during the first phase of testing are suggestive of domestic activity in this area, but no dating evidence was recovered from these features and they could be contemporary either with the Bronze Age enclosure or with the medieval ditch, F141, to their east.

The ditch F151/F185 was located on the west of the site, to the north of Enclosure F, which contained a cremation burial. A sherd of coarseware pottery from this ditch indicates domestic activity dating to the later part of the Bronze Age.
A second period of settlement activity was indicated by two subrectangular enclosures (Enclosures J and K) on the eastern end of the site, where there was evidence for several phases of occupation and a single inhumation burial. The absence of ceramic finds from this part of the site suggests that it dates to the early medieval period.
Enclosures J and K measured 35m by 53m and 41m by 53m respectively. They were defined by a substantial northern ditch, F120, that was up to 1m deep, but the southern enclosure ditches F21/F173 were not as substantial. The sequence and waterlogged nature of the fills in the northern ditch F120 indicate that it had held water and that it filled in gradually over time. A sherd of Bronze Age coarseware recovered when cleaning back the surface of this ditch probably came from its fill but no other chronologically diagnostic finds were recovered from the section excavated into the ditch. The internal features within Enclosures J and K comprise a series of pits and ditches, some of which may represent structural remains. Although the general lack of artefacts from the features on this part of the site does not facilitate dating, the absence of pottery suggests that occupation may date some time between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the medieval period (c. 800 BC to 12th century AD), when ceramics were not in widespread use. An inhumation burial was uncovered on this part of the site during the first phase of testing. No further burials were uncovered within the test-trenches excavated during this second phase of testing.
Evidence for medieval settlement activity came from a curvilinear ditch (F141) on the northern end of the site that contained a sherd of medieval cooking ware. This ditch was located to the south of Enclosure G and some of the pits in that area could also prove to be medieval in date.